fornia 
nal 

iy 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


IN  ANCIENT 
ALBEMARLE 

By  Catherine  Albertson 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

NORTH  CAROLINA  SOCIETY  DAUGHTERS 
OF  THE  REVOLUTION 


ILLUSTRATED  FROM  DRAWINGS  BY 
MABEL  PUGH 


RALEIGH 

COMMERCIAL    PRINTING    COMPANY 
1914 


COPYRIGHT,  1914 

15Y 

CATHERINE  ALBERTSON 


DEDICATION 


To 

MARY  HILLIAED  HIXTON 

STATE  REGENT  DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 

WITHOUT  WHOSE  AID  AND  ENCOURAGEMENT 

THESE  CHAPTERS  WOULD  NEVER 

HAVE  BEEN  WRITTEN 

—C.  A. 


550002 


THE  PERQUIMANS  RIVER 

From  the  Great  Swamp's  mysterious  depths, 
Whore  wild  beasts  lurk  and  strange  winds  sough 
From  ancient  forests  dense  and  dark, 
Where  gray  moss  wreathes  the  cypress  bough ; 
'Mid  marshes  green  with  flowers  starred, 
Through  fens  where  reeds  and  rushes  sway, 
Past  fertile  fields  of  waving  grain, 
Down  to  the  sea  I  take  my  way. 

The  wild  swan  floats  upon  my  breast ; 
The  sea-gulls  to  my  waters  sink ; 
And  stealing  to  my  low  green  shores, 
The  timid  deer  oft  stoops  to  drink. 
The  yellow  jessamine's  golden  bells 
Ring  on  my  banks  their  fairy  chime ; 
And  tall  flag  lilies  bow  and  bend, 
To  the  low  music  keeping  time. 

Between  uiy  narrow,  winding  banks. 
For  many  a  mile  I  dream  along 
'Mid  silence  deep,  unbroken  save 
By  rustling  reed,  or  wild  bird's  song; 
Or  murmuring  of  my  shadowed  waves 
Beneath  the  feathery  cypress  trees. 
Or  pines,  responsive  to  the  breath 
Of  winds  that  breathe  sea  memories. 

So  far  removed  seem  shore  and  stream, 
From  sound  and  sight  of  mart  or  mill, 
That  Kilcokonen's  painted  braves 
Might  roam  my  woods  and  marshes  still. 
And  still,  as  in  the  days  of  yore. 
Ere  yet  the  white  man's  sail   I  knew. 
Upon  my  amber  waves  might  skim 
The  Indian  maiden's  light  canoe. 


Thus,  half  asleep,  I  dream  along, 
Till  low  at  first,  and  far  away, 
Then  louder,  more  insistent,  calls 
A  voice  my  heart  would  fain  obey. 
And  by  a  force  resistless  drawn, 
The  narrow  banks  that  fetter  me 
I  thrust  apart,  and  onward  sweep 
In  quiet  strength  toward  the  sea. 

I  leave  my  marshes  and  my  fens ; 
I  dream  no  more  upon  my  way ; 
But  forward  press,  a  river  grown, 
In  the  great  world  my  part  to  play. 
Upon  my  wide  and  ample  breast, 
The  white-winged  boats  go  hurrying  by 
And  on  my  banks  the  whirring  wheels 
Of  busy  mills  hum  ceaselessly. 

And  sharing  man's  incessant  toil, 
I  journey  ever  onward  down, 
With  many  a  lovely  sister  stream, 
With  all  the  waters  of  the  Sound, 
To  join  the  sea,  whose  billows  break, 
In  silver  spray,  in  wild  uproar, 
Upon  the  golden  bars  that  guard 
The  lonely  Carolina  shore. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB  PAGE 

I.  Wikacome  in  Weapomeiok,  the  Home  of  George 

Durant 1 

II.  The  First  Albernarle  Assembly — Hall's   Creek, 

near  Xixontoii 13 

III.  Enfield   Farm — Where  the  Culpeper   Rebellion 

Began 19 

IV.  The  Heckletield  Farm 31 

Y.  Colonial  Days  in  Church  and  School  on  Little 

River,  Pasquotank  County 46 

VI.  The  Haunts  of  Blackbeard 54 

VII.  The  Old  Brick  House — a  True  History  of  the 
Historic  Dwelling  Reputed  to  be  the  Home 
of  the  Famous  Pirate  .  - 62 

VIII.  "Elmwood."  the  Old  Swann  Homestead  in  Pas- 

quotauk  County     ...  66 


IX.  Pasquotank  in  Colonial  Wars 


X.  Pasquotank   in   Colonial    Wars — "The   War    of 

Jenkins'  Ear" 78 

XI.  A  Soldier  of  the  Revolution — The   Story  of  a 

Pasquotank  Boy  Who  Followed  Washington       84 

XII.  General  Isaac  Gregory,  a  Revolutionary  Officer 

of  Pasquotank-Camden 93 

XIII.  Perquirnans    County — "Land    of    Beautiful 

Women,"   and   the   Colonial   Town   of  Hert- 
ford       114 

XIV.  Currituck,  the  Haunt  of  the  Wild  Fowl       .       .     134 
XV.  Edeuton  in  the  Revolution  153 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 
PAGE 

Old  Float  Bridge  Across  the  Fenjumians 

River Frontispiece 

"The  Old  Brick  House,"  on  Pasyuotank  River      .       .  62 

Fairfax,  the  Home  of  General  Isaac  Gregory       .       .  112 

The  Eagle  Tavern,   Hertford 130 

The  Cupola  House,  Edenton 151 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 


CHAPTER  I 

WIKACOME  IN  WEAPOMEIOK,  THE  HOME  OF 
GEORGE  DURANT 

IN  Perquimans  County,  North  Carolina,  there 
lies  between  the  beautiful  Perquimans  River 
on  the  west,  and  her  fair  and  placid  sister,  the 
Katoline  or  Little  River,  on  the  east,  a  lovely  strip 
of  land  to  which  the  red  man  in  days  long  gone, 
gave  the  name  of  Wikacome.  The  broad  sound 
whose  tawny  waters  wash  the  southern  shores  of 
this  peninsula,  as  well  as  all  that  tract  of  land 
lying  between  the  Chowan  River  and  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  were  known  to  the  primitive  dwellers  in 
that  region  as  Weapomeiok. 

Not  until  George  Durant  came  into  Carolina., 
and  following  him  a  thin  stream  of  settlers  that 
finally  overflowed  the  surrounding  country,  did 
the  beautiful  Indian  names  give  place  to  those  by 
which  they  are  now  known.  Then  Wikacome  be- 
came the  familiar  Durant's  Neck,  and  the  waters 
of  Weapomeiok  and  the  territory  known  to  the 
aborigines  by  the  same  name,  changed  to  the  his- 
toric cognomen  of  Albemarle. 

George  Durant  and  Samuel  Pricklove  were  the 
first  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  to  establish  a  perma- 
nent settlement  in  Wikacome,  though  they  were 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

not  the  first  Englishmen  whose  eyes  had  rested 
upon  its  virgin  forests  and  fair  green  meadows, 
for  in  the  early  spring  of  1586  Ralph  Lane,  who 
had  been  sent  with  Sir  Richard  Grenville  by  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  to  colonize  Roanoke  Island,  set  out 
with  fourteen  comrades  from  that  place  on  an 
exploring  expedition,  hoping  to  find  the  golden 
"Will-o'-the-Wisp,"  which  led  so  many  English 
adventurers  of  the  day  to  seek  their  fortunes  in 
the  New  World. 

As  far  as  the  Roanoke  River  sailed  the  bold 
explorer  and  his  comrades,  among  whom  were 
Philip  Amadas  and  the  historian  Hakluyt.  To 
the  south  as  far  as  Craven  County  they  pushed 
their  little  boat,  and  northward  to  the  shores  of 
Chesapeake  Bay.  In  the  course  of  their  journey 
they  touched  at  Chepanock,  an  Indian  village 
lying  at  the  extremity  of  Durant's  Neck.  And 
Lane  relates  that  on  his  return  trip  he  stopped 
again  at  that  point  to  secure  a  supply  of  provis- 
ions, and  to  fish  in  the  sound. 

It  was  Easter  morning,  1586,  when  Lane  and 
his  hardy  sailors,  worn  out  from  their  rough  voy- 
age down  the  Chowan  and  up  the  tawny  waters  of 
the  sound,  sailed  into  the  quiet  harbor  of  the  Kato- 
line  River.  Half  starved,  for  the  hostile  tribes 
of  the  Mangoaks  on  the  Chowan  River,  after  being 
repulsed  in  an  attack  upon  the  strangers,  had 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

refused  to  sell  them  food,  Lane  and  his  men,  for 
two  days  without  means  of  staying  their  hunger, 
hoped  to  buy  from  the  Indians  of  Weapomeiok  the 
provisions  so  sorely  needed. 

But  when  the  little  band  of  explorers  rowed 
their  small  craft  to  the  shore,  and  set  out  in  search 
of  corn  and  meat,  they  found  the  wigwams  of 
Chepanock  deserted,  and  no  sign  of  the  red  men. 
The  Indians  doubtless  had  been  alarmed  at  the 
sight  of  the  strangers  when  they  first  stopped  at 
the  village,  and  had  fled  from  their  homes  to  the 
interior  of  the  country. 

No  corn  nor  meal  could  Lane  procure,  but  the 
weirs  were  full  of  fish,  and  the  men  were  able  to 
satisfy  their  hunger,  and  having  rested  at  Chepa- 
nock that  night  they  returned  to  Roanoke  Island 
next  morning.  When  the  plash  of  their  oars  died 
away  in  the  distance,  the  waters  of  the  Katoline 
and  the  northern  shores  of  Weapomeiok  knew  the 
wrhite  man's  sails  no  more  until  over  half  a  cen- 
tury had  passed  away. 

Lane  and  his  colony,  discouraged  in  their  hopes 
of  finding  gold,  and  disheartened  by  the  many 
misfortunes  that  had  befallen  them,  sailed  back  to 
England  with  Sir  Francis  Drake.  Raleigh's  second 
attempt  a  year  later  to  establish  a  colony  on  Roan- 
oke Island  ended  in  the  pathetic  story  of  little 
Virginia  Dare  and  the  "Lost  Colony."  Queen 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Elizabeth  died,  and  the  tyrannical  reign  of  James 
I  came  to  an  end.  Charles  I  and  Cromwell  waged 
their  bitter  war;  the  Commonwealth  and  Protec- 
torate ran  their  brief  course,  and  the  Restoration 
of  1660  brought  back  the  third  of  the  Stuarts  to 
the  throne  of  England. 

During  all  these  changes  in  the  ownership  of 
Carolina  and  her  sister  colonies,  the  red  man 
roamed  unmolested  through  the  forests  of  Wika- 
come  and  fished  the  weirs  in  the  silver  streams 
flowing  into  the  broad  waters  of  Weapomeiok,  un- 
afraid of  the  great,  white-winged  boats  of  the  pale 
face.  These  brief  visits  to  his  shores  were  now 
remembered  only  when  the  tribes  gathered  around 
the  great  camp  fires  at  night,  and  listened  to 
the  tales  told  by  ancient  braves  and  squaws,  to 
whom  the  appearance  of  the  swift  ships  of  the 
strangers  now  seemed  only  a  dim,  half-remem- 
bered dream. 

But  as  the  years  rolled  by,  venturesome  hunt- 
ers and  trappers  from  Virginia  began  to  thread 
their  way  through  the  tangled  woods  of  the  region 
lying  to  the  south  of  the  Chesapeake.  Return- 
ing to  their  homes  they  carried  with  them  glowing 
accounts  of  the  mild  climate,  the  placid  streams 
teeming  with  fish,  the  wild  game  and  rich  furs  to 
be  found  in  the  country  through  which  they  had 
wandered. 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

In  1630  Sir  Robert  Heath,  to  whom  Charles  I 
granted  a  large  portion  of  Carolina,  attempted  to 
establish  a  settlement  in  the  territory.  Later 
Roger  Green,  an  English  clergyman,  made  a  sim- 
ilar attempt  near  the  present  town  of  Edenton, 
but  both  these  efforts  failed.  However,  the  spirit 
of  discovery  and  adventure  was  now  fully  aroused, 
and  by  1656  a  number  of  settlements  had  been 
established  along  the  shores  of  the  streams  that 
flow  into  Albemarle  Sound.  Of  none  of  these, 
however,  can  any  accurate  account  be  given,  their 
date  and  location  having  long  been  forgotten ;  and 
not  until  1661  is  there  any  authenticated  record 
of  a  permanent  settlement  in  North  Carolina. 

A  year  or  two  previous  to  that  date,  George 
Durant,  a  planter  from  Virginia,  attracted  by 
the  enthusiastic  accounts  he  had  heard  of  the  de- 
sirable lands  to  be  found  lying  to  the  south,  started 
out  on  an  exploring  expedition  to  see  for  himself 
if  all  he  had  heard  of  the  Indian  land  of  Weapo- 
meiok  were  true,  intending,  if  the  country  came 
up  to  his  expectations,  there  to  establish  his  home. 

For  nearly  two  years  Durant  journeyed  through 
the  country,  and  finally  satisfied  that  the  glowing 
accounts  he  had  heard  were  not  exaggerated,  he 
determined  to  bring  his  wife  and  family,  his 
goods  and  chattels,  into  this  new  "Land  of  Prom- 
ise," and  there  build  for  himself  a  house  to  dwell 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

in,  and  to  clear  away  the  forest  for  a  plantation. 
The  first  spot  selected  by  him  for  his  future  home 
was  very  near  the  ancient  Indian  village  of  Chepa- 
nock,  on  the  peninsula  of  Wikacome,  which  juts 
out  into  the  wide  waters  of  Weapomeiok,  and 
whose  shores  are  watered  by  the  Katoline  and  the 
Perquimans  rivers. 

With  the  coming  of  George  Durant  to  Carolina, 
the  old  Indian  name  Wikacome  vanishes  from  his- 
tory, and  "Durant's  Neck"  becomes  the  name  by 
which  that  section  is  henceforth  known.  The 
sound  and  the  region  north  of  it,  first  known  as 
Weapomeiok,  change  to  Albemarle ;  and  the  Kato- 
line River  soon  loses  its  Indian  designation,  and  is 
known  to  the  settlers  who  made  their  homes  on  its 
banks  as  the  "Little  River." 

With  the  establishment  of  George  Durant  on 
the  peninsula  now  called  by  his  name,  the  con- 
nected history  of  North  Carolina  begins.  And  it 
is  a  matter  of  pride  to  the  citizens  of  the  Old 
North  State  that  our  first  settler,  with  a  sturdy 
honesty  and  a  sense  of  justice  shown  but  seldom 
to  the  red  man  by  the  pioneers  in  the  colonies, 
bought  from  the  Indian  chief,  Kilcokonen  "for  a 
valuable  consideration"  the  land  on  which  he  es- 
tablished his  home.  The  deed  for  this  tract  of 
land  is  now  in  the  old  court-house  in  Hertford, 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

North  Carolina,  and  is  the  earliest  recorded  in  the 
history  of  our  State.  The  following  is  an  exact 
copy  of  this  ancient  document : 

"George  Durant's  Deed 

from 
Kilcokonen : 

"Know  all  men  these  Presents  that  I,  Kilcoko- 
nen King  of  the  Yeopems  have  for  a  valuable  con- 
sideration of  satisfaction  received  with  ye  consent 
of  my  People  sold  and  made  over  and  delivered  to 
George  Durant,  a  Parcel  of  land  lying  and  being 
on  a  river  called  by  ye  name  of  Perquimans,  which 
issueth  out  of  the  North  side  of  the  aforesaid 
Sound,  and  which  land  at  present  bears  ye  name 
of  Wecameke.  Beginning  at  a  marked  oak  tree 
which  divideth  this  land  from  ye  land  I  formerly 
sold  Samuel  Precklove  and  extending  easterly  up 
ye  said  Sound  at  a  point  or  turning  of  ye  afore- 
said Perquimans  River  and  so  up  ye  east  side  of 
ye  said  river  to  a  creek  called  Awoseake  to  wit, 
all  ye  land  between  ye  aforesaid  bounds  of  Samuel 
Precklove  and  the  said  creek  whence  to  ye  head 
thereof.  And  thence  through  ye  woods  to  ye  first 
bounds.  To  have  and  to  hold  ye  quiet  possession 
of  ye  same  to  him,  his  heirs  forever,  with  all 
rights  and  privileges  thereto  forever  from  me  or 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

any  person  or  persons  whatsoever,  as  witness  my 
hand  this  first  day  of  March  1661. 

"KILCOKONEN. 
"Test:  Thos  Weamouth,  Caleb  Callaway." 

Having  thus  fairly  and  justly  bought  his  lands, 
as  this  and  other  deeds  from  Kilcokonen  testify, 
Durant  proceeded  to  establish  his  belongings  on 
his  estate,  and  to  take  up  the  strenuous  life  of  a 
pioneer  in  a  new  country. 

And  a  fairer  region  never  gladdened  the  eyes  of 
men  making  a  new  home  in  a  strange  land.  In  the 
virgin  forests  surrounding  the  settlers'  homes,  the 
crimson  berried  holly  tree  against  the  dark  back- 
ground of  lofty  pines  brightened  the  winter  land- 
scape. The  opulent  Southern  spring  flung  wide 
the  white  banners  of  dogwood,  enriched  the  forest 
aisles  with  fretted  gold  of  jessamine  and  scarlet 
of  coral  honeysuckle,  and  spread  the  ground  with 
carpet  of  velvet  moss,  of  rosy  azaleas  and  blue- 
eyed  innocents.  The  wide  rivers  that  flow  in 
placid  beauty  by  the  wooded  banks  of  ancient 
Wikacome,  formed  a  highway  for  the  commerce 
of  the  settlers  and  a  connecting  link  with  the  outer 
sea.  And  however  fierce  and  bold  the  wild  crea- 
tures of  those  dark  forests  might  be,  the  teeming 
fish  and  game  of  the  surrounding  woods  and 
waters  kept  far  from  the  settlers'  doors  the  wolf 
of  want  and  hunger. 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

The  fame  of  this  fertile  spot  spread,  and  ere 
long  George  Durant  was  greeting  many  newcom- 
ers into  the  country.  Samuel  Pricklove  had  pre- 
ceded him  into  Wikacome,  and  later  came  George 
Catchmaid,  Captain  John  Hecklefield  and  Richard 
Sanderson,  while  later  still  the  Blounts,  the  Whed- 
bees,  the  Newbys,  Harveys  and  Skinners,  names 
still  prominent  in  Albemarle,  came  into  the 
neighborhood  and  settled  throughout  Perquimans 
County. 

At  the  homes  of  the  planters  on  Durant's  Neck 
the  public  business  of  the  Albemarle  Colony  was 
for  many  years  transacted.  Courts  were  held, 
councils  convened,  and  assemblies  called,  while 
from  the  wharves  of  the  planters  on  Little  River 
and  the  Perquimans,  white-sailed  vessels  carried 
the  produce  of  the  rich  fields  and  dense  forests  to 
New  England,  to  the  West  Indies  and  to  the 
mother  country. 

Many  of  the  most  interesting  events  in  the  early 
history  of  Albemarle  occurred  on  Durant's  Neck. 
The  Culpeper  Rebellion,  of  which  George  Durant 
and  John  Culpeper  were  among  the  leaders,  began 
in  Pasquotank,  but  reached  its  culmination  in  Du- 
rant's home  on  Little  River.  There,  also,  Thomas 
Miller  was  imprisoned  for  a  time,  and  there  the 
leaders  of  the  rebellion  organized  a  new  people's 
government,  the  first  in  the  New  World  absolutely 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

independent  of  Proprietors,  Parliament  and  King. 
At  Hecklefield's  home  on  Little  River,  the  plan- 
tation adjoining  Durant's,  the  Assembly  of  1708 
met  to  investigate  the  Gary-Glover  question  and 
to  decide  which  of  those  two  claimants  to  the 
gubernatorial  chair  had  rightful  authority  to 
occupy  that  exalted  seat.  There  also  George  Eden 
was  sworn  in  as  ruler  of  North  Carolina  under 
the  Proprietors;  and  there  the  death  of  Queen 
Anne  was  announced  to  the  Governor's  Council, 
and  George  I  was  formally  proclaimed  true  and 
lawful  sovereign  of  Carolina. 

A  prominent  meeting  place  for  the  courts,  coun- 
cils and  assemblies  in  Colonial  Albemarle  was  the 
home  of  Captain  Richard  Sanderson  in  the  Little 
River  settlement  on  Durant's  Neck.  Of  the  many 
notable  events  that  occurred  at  the  home  of  this 
wealthy  and  influential  planter,  probably  the  As- 
sembly of  1715  leads  in  interest  and  importance. 
The  acts  passed  by  this  Assembly  were  directed  to 
be  printed,  but  the  order  was  evidently  never 
carried  out,  as  none  but  manuscript  copies  are 
now  extant. 

Among  the  most  important  measures  taken  by 
this  Assembly  was  one  making  the  Church  of 
England  the  established  Church  of  the  Colony; 
though  freedom  of  worship  was  granted  to  all, 
and  the  Quakers  were  allowed  to  substitute  a 


10 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

solemn  affirmation  in  lieu  of  an  oath.  Other 
acts,  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  the  Colony,  were 
passed,  and  a  revision  of  all  former  acts  was 
made.  Edward  Moseley,  Speaker  of  the  House, 
was  of  course  present  on  this  occasion,  as  were 
Governor  Eden,  Thomas  Byrd,  of  Pasquotank, 
Tobias  Knight,  of  Currituck,  Christopher  Gale, 
of  Chowan,  and  Maurice  Moore,  of  Perquimans. 
Of  all  these  old  homes  on  Durant's  Neck  where 
so  much  of  the  early  history  of  our  State  was 
made,  none  are  now  standing ;  though  the  sites  of 
several  of  these  historic  places  are  well  known  to 
the  dwellers  on  the  peninsula.  When  the  tide  is 
low  on  Little  River,  the  bricks  of  what  was  once 
the  home  of  Governor  Drummond  can  be  seen. 
And  an  old  tombstone  found  in  the  sound,  which 
is  now  used  as  the  lower  step  of  the  side  porch  in 
a  beautiful  old  home,  on  Durant's  Neck,  once  the 
property  of  Mr.  Edward  Leigh,  but  now  owned 
by  Mr.  C.  W.  Grandy,  of  Norfolk,  is  said  to  have 
once  marked  the  grave  of  Seth  Sothel.  The  in- 
scription on  the  stone  is  now  obliterated,  but  the 
original  owners  of  the  home  declared  that  the  old 
inhabitants  of  Durant's  Neck  claimed  that  the 
slab  at  one  time  bore  the  name  of  this,  the  most 
infamous  of  all  the  unworthy  Governors  whom 
the  Proprietors  placed  over  the  people  of  Albe- 
marle. 

11 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

The  site  of  Durant's  home  is  well  known,  and 
until  a  few  years  ago  a  tombstone  bearing  his 
name,  it  is  said,  was  standing  under  an  old  sweet- 
gum  tree  on  the  bank  of  a  great  ditch  near  the 
sound.  But  the  field  hands  in  clearing  the  ditch 
undermined  the  stone  and  covered  it  with  earth, 
so  it  now  lies  hidden  from  view. 

But  though  no  monument  now  marks  the  rest- 
ing place  of  our  first  settler,  George  Durant,  there 
is  no  need  of  "storied  urn  or  animated  bust"  to 
keep  alive  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  the 
memory  of  his  name,  and  of  the  brave,  fearless 
spirit  which  made  him  a  tower  of  strength  to  the 
Old  North  State  in  the  struggles  of  her  early  days. 


12 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  FIRST   ALBEMARLE  ASSEMBLY — HALL'S   CREEK 
NEAR  NIXONTON 

IN  1663  King  Charles  II  granted  to  eight  noble- 
men of  his  court  a  tract  of  land  reaching  from 
the  northern  shores  of  Albemarle  Sound  to 
St.  John's  River  in  Florida,  and  from  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  A  small  strip  extend- 
ing from  the  north  shore  of  the  Albemarle  Sound 
to  the  southern  boundary  of  Virginia  was  not 
included  in  this  grant,  but  nevertheless  the  Lords 
Proprietors,  of  whom  Governor  Berkeley,  of  Vir- 
ginia, was  one,  assumed  control  over  this  section ; 
and  in  1663  these  noblemen  authorized  Berkeley  to 
appoint  a  governor  to  rule  over  this  territory, 
whose  ownership  was  a  disputed  question  for 
several  years. 

In  1665  the  Albemarle  region,  as  it  came  to  be 
called,  comprising  the  four  ancient  counties  of 
Currituck,  Pasquotank,  Perquimans  and  Chowan, 
had  become  very  valuable  on  account  of  the  rich 
plantations  established  therein  by  such  men  as 
George  Durant,  of  Perquimans,  and  Valentine 
Byrd,  of  Pasquotank;  and  the  Lords  Proprietors, 
as  the  owners  of  the  Carolinas  were  called,  begged 
the  king  to  include  the  above-named  strip  of  land 


13 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

in  their  grant.  This  the  king  did,  ignorant  of  the 
vast  extent  of  the  territory  which  he  had  already 
bestowed  upon  the  Lords. 

William  Drummond,  whom  Berkeley,  of  Vir- 
ginia, had  appointed  to  govern  this  Albemarle 
country,  came  into  Carolina  in  1664,  and  assumed 
the  reins  of  government.  To  assist  him  in  his 
arduous  duties,  the  Lords  authorized  Berkeley  to 
appoint  six  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  set- 
tlement to  form  what  came  to  be  known  as  the 
Governor's  Council.  This  body  of  men,  with  the 
Governor,  acted  for  many  years  as  the  judicial 
department  of  the  State,  and  also  corresponded  to 
what  is  now  the  Senate  Chamber  in  our  legislative 
department. 

That  the  liberty-loving  pioneers  in  Carolina 
might  feel  that  they  were  a  self-governing  people, 
every  free  man  in  the  settlement  was  to  have  right 
of  membership  in  the  General  Assembly,  which 
was  to  meet  yearly  to  enact  the  laws.  After  the 
Governor,  Councillors,  and  the  freemen  or  their 
deputies  had  passed  the  laws,  a  copy  of  them  was 
to  be  sent  to  the  Lords  for  their  consideration. 
Should  they  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  Pro- 
prietors, they  went  into  effect;  if  not,  they  were 
null  and  void. 

In  the  fall  of  1664,  Governor  Drummond  began 
organizing  the  government  of  his  new  province; 


14 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

and  on  February  6,  1665,  the  "Grand  Assembly  of 
Albemarle,"  as  these  early  law-makers  styled 
themselves,  met  to  frame  a  set  of  laws  for  this 
Albemarle  Colony.  The  place  chosen  for  the 
meeting  of  this  first  legislative  body  ever  assem- 
bled in  our  State,  was  a  little  knoll  overlooking 
Hall's  Creek  in  Pasquotank  County,  about  a  mile 
from  Nixonton,  a  small  town  which  was  chartered 
nearly  a  hundred  years  later. 

No  record  of  the  names  of  these  hardy  settlers 
who  were  present  at  this  Grand  Assembly  has 
been  handed  down  to  us ;  but  on  such  an  important 
occasion  we  may  be  sure  that  all  the  prominent 
men  in  the  Albemarle  region  who  could  attend 
would  make  it  a  point  to  do  so. 

George  Drummond  and  his  secretary,  Thomas 
Woodward,  were  surely  there;  George  Durant, 
Samuel  Pricklove,  John  Harvey,  all  owners  of 
great  plantations  in  Perquimans,  doubtless  were 
on  hand.  Thomas  Raulfe,  Timothy  Biggs,  Valen- 
tine Byrd,  Solomon  Poole,  all  large  landowners  in 
Pasquotank,  must  have  been  there;  Thomas  Jar- 
vis,  of  Currituck,  and  Thomas  Pollock,  of  Chowan, 
may  have  represented  their  counties.  And  all — 
the  dignified,  reserved  Scotch  Governor,  his 
haughty  secretary,  the  wealthy,  influential  plan- 
ters and  the  humble  farmers  and  hunters — must 
have  felt  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion  and  recog- 
nized its  importance. 

15 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

We  may  imagine  the  scene :  Under  the  spread- 
ing boughs  of  a  lordly  oak,  this  group  of  men  were 
gathered.  Around  them  the  dark  forest  stretched, 
the  wind  murmuring  in  the  pines  and  fragrant 
with  the  aromatic  odor  of  the  spicy  needles.  At 
a  distance  a  group  of  red  men,  silent  and  immov- 
able, some  with  bow  and  arrow  in  hand,  leaning 
against  the  trees,  others  sitting  on  the  ground, 
gazed  with  wondering  eyes  upon  the  palefaces 
assembled  for  their  first  great  pow-wow. 

Down  at  the  foot  of  the  knoll  the  silver  waves 
of  the  creek  rippled  softly  against  the  shore;  on 
its  waters  the  sloops  of  the  planters  from  the  set- 
tlements nearby;  here  and  there  on  its  bosom,  an 
Indian  canoe  moored  close  to  its  shores. 

As  to  the  work  accomplished  by  this  first  Albe- 
marle  Assembly,  only  one  fact  is  certain,  and  that 
is  the  drawing  up  by  the  members  of  a  petition  to 
the  Lords  Proprietors,  begging  that  these  settlers 
in  Carolina  should  be  allowed  to  hold  their  lands 
on  the  same  conditions  and  terms  as  the  people  of 
Virginia.  The  Lords  graciously  consented  to  this 
petition,  and  on  the  1st  of  May,  1668,  they  issued 
a  paper  known  to  this  day  as  the  Deed  of  Grant, 
by  which  land  in  Albemarle  was  directed  to  be 
granted  on  the  same  terms  as  in  Virginia.  The 
deed  was  duly  recorded  in  Albemarle,  and  was 
preserved  with  scrupulous  care. 


16 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

There  is  a  tradition  in  the  county  that  the  As- 
sembly also  took  steps  for  preparing  for  an  Indian 
war  then  threatening,  which  broke  out  the  follow- 
ing year,  but  was  soon  suppressed. 

Doubtless  other  laws  were  enacted,  such  as  were 
necessary  for  the  settlement,  though  no  record  of 
them  is  extant.  And  then,  the  business  that  called 
them  together  having  been  transacted,  and  the 
wheels  of  government  set  in  motion,  these  early 
law-makers  returned  home,  to  manor  house  and 
log  cabin,  to  the  care  of  the  great  plantations, 
to  the  plow,  and  the  wild,  free  life  of  the  hunter 
and  trapper;  and  a  new  government  had  been 
born. 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  such 
historians  as  Colonel  Saunders,  Captain  Asher 
and  President  D.  H.  Hill,  that  the  first  Albemarle 
Assembly  did  convene  in  the  early  spring  of  1665. 
As  for  the  day  and  month,  tradition  alone  is  our 
authority.  An  old  almanac  of  H.  D.  Turner's  gives 
the  date  as  February  6th,  and  in  default  of  any 
more  certain  date,  this  was  inscribed  upon  the 
tablet  which  the  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  Chapter 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution  have  erected  at  Hall's 
Creek  Church. 

As  to  the  statement  that  the  place  marked  by 
the  tablet  was  the  scene  of  the  meeting  of  our  first 
assemblymen,  tradition  again  is  responsible.  But 


17 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

such  authorities  as  Captain  Ashe,  and  various 
members  of  the  State  Historical  Commission, 
accept  the  tradition  as  a  fact.  And  all  old  resi- 
dents of  Nixonton  assert  that  their  fathers  and 
grandfathers  handed  the  story  down  to  them. 

An  extract  from  a  letter  from  Captain  Ashe, 
author  of  Ashe's  History  of  North  Carolina,  to 
the  Regent  of  the  local  Chapter  Daughters  of  the 
Revolution  may  be  of  interest  here: 

"Yesterday  I  came  across  in  the  library  at 
Washington,  this  entry,  made  by  the  late  Mrs. 
Frances  Hill,  widow  of  Secretary  of  the  State  Wil- 
liam Hill:  'I  was  born  in  Nixonton  March  14, 
1789.  Nixonton  is  a  small  town  one  mile  from 
Hall's  Creek,  and  on  a  little  rise  of  ground  from 
the  bridge  stood  the  big  oak,  where  the  first  set- 
tlers of  our  county  held  their  assembly.' ' 

Other  documents  in  possession  of  the  Regent  of 
our  local  Chapter  Daughters  of  the  Revolution  go 
to  show  that  the  place  and  date  as  named  on  the 
tablet  at  Hall's  Creek  are  authentic,  and  that  Pas- 
quotank  County  may  claim  with  truth  the  honor  of 
having  been  the  scene  of  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Grand  Assembly  of  Albemarle. 


18 


CHAPTER  III 

ENFIELD  FARM — WHERE  THE  CULPEPER 
REBELLION  BEGAN 

SOME  two  or  three  miles  south  of  Elizabeth 
City  on  the  banks  of  the  Pasquotank  River, 
just  where  that  lovely  stream  suddenly 
broadens  out  into  a  wide  and  beautiful  expanse, 
lies  the  old  plantation  known  in  our  county  from 
earliest  days  as  Enfield  Farm,  sometimes  Winfield. 

It  is  hard  to  trace  the  original  owners  of  the 
plantation,  but  the  farm  is  probably  part  of  the 
original  patent  granted  in  1663  by  Sir  William 
Berkeley,  one  of  the  Lords  Proprietors,  to  Mr. 
Thomas  Relfe,  "on  account  of  his  bringing  into 
the  colony  fifteen  persons  and  paying  on  St.  Mich- 
ael's Day,  the  29th  of  September,  one  shilling  for 
every  acre  of  land." 

On  this  plantation,  close  to  the  river  shore,  was 
erected  about  1670,  according  to  our  local  tradi- 
tion, the  home  of  the  planter,  two  rooms  of  which 
are  still  standing  and  in  good  preservation.  Pos- 
sibly "Thomas  Relfe,  Gentleman,"  as  he  is  styled 
in  the  Colonial  Records,  was  the  builder  of  this 
relic  of  bygone  days,  whose  massive  brick  walls 
and  stout  timbers  have  for  so  long  defied  the  on- 
slaughts of  time. 


19 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Many  are  the  stories,  legendary  and  historical, 
that  have  gathered  around  this  ancient  building. 
Among  the  most  interesting  of  the  latter  is  that 
connected  with  the  Culpeper  Rebellion,  an  event 
as  important  in  North  Carolina  history  as  Bacon's 
Rebellion  is  in  the  history  of  Virginia. 

The  cause  of  Culpeper's  Rebellion  dates  back 
to  the  passing  of  the  navigation  act  by  Cromwell's 
Parliament,  when  that  vigorous  ruler  held  sway 
in  England  and  over  the  American  colonies.  This 
act,  later  broadened  and  amended,  finally  prohib- 
ited the  colonists  not  only  from  importing  goods 
from  Europe  unless  they  were  shipped  from  Eng- 
land, but  forbade  the  use  of  any  but  English  ves- 
sels in  the  carrying  trade;  and  finally  declared 
that  inter-colonial  trade  should  cease,  and  that 
England  alone  should  be  the  market  for  the  buy- 
ing and  selling  of  goods  on  the  part  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. Naturally  the  colonies  objected  to  such  a 
selfish  restriction  of  their  trade,  and  naturally 
there  was  much  smuggling  carried  on,  wherever 
and  whenever  this  avoidance  of  the  navigation 
acts  could  be  made  in  safety. 

To  none  of  these  thirteen  colonies  were  these 
laws  more  injurious  than  to  the  infant  settlement 
on  the  northern  shores  of  Albemarle  Sound  in 
Carolina.  The  sand  bars  along  the  coast  pre- 
vented the  establishment  of  a  seaport  from 


20 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

whence  trade  could  be  carried  on  with  the  mother 
country.  The  large,  English-built  vessels  could 
not  pass  through  the  shallow  inlets  that  connect 
the  Atlantic  with  the  Carolina  inland  waterways. 
To  have  strictly  obeyed  the  laws  passed  by  the 
British  Parliament  would  have  been  the  death 
blow  to  the  commerce  and  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
Albemarle  settlement.  So,  for  about  fifteen  years 
after  George  Durant  bought  his  tract  of  land  on 
Durant's  Neck  from  Kilcokonen,  the  great  chief  of 
the  Yeopims,  the  planters  in  Albemarle  had  paid 
but  little  attention  to  the  trade  laws.  The  Pro- 
prietors appointed  no  customs  collectors  in  the 
little  colony,  and  had  not  considered  it  worth  while 
to  interfere  with  the  trade  which  the  shrewd  New 
Englanders  had  built  up  in  Carolina. 

Enterprising  Yankee  shipbuilders,  realizing 
their  opportunity,  constructed  staunch  little  ves- 
sels which  could  weather  the  seas,  sail  over  to  Eu- 
rope, load  up  with  goods  necessary  to  the  planter, 
return  and  glide  down  the  coast  till  they  found  an 
opening  between  the  dreaded  bars,  then,  slipping 
from  sound  to  sound,  carry  to  the  planters  in  the 
Albemarle  region  the  cargoes  for  which  they  were 
waiting. 

Another  law  requiring  payment  of  an  export 
tax  on  tobacco,  then  the  principal  crop  of  the  Albe- 
marle sections,  as  it  was  of  Virginia,  was  evaded 


21 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

for  many  years  by  the  settlers  in  this  region. 
Governors  Drummond  and  Stevens,  and  John  Jud- 
kins,  president  of  the  council,  must  have  known  of 
this  disregard  of  the  laws,  both  on  the  part  of 
the  Yankee  shippers  and  the  Albemarle  planters. 
But  realizing  that  too  strict  an  adherence  to  Eng- 
land's trade  laws  would  mean  ruin  to  the  colonists, 
these  officers  were  conveniently  blind  to  the  illegal 
proceedings  of  their  people. 

But  after  the  organization  of  the  board  of  trade 
in  London,  of  which  four  of  the  Proprietors  were 
members,  the  rulers  of  Carolina  determined  to 
enforce  the  laws  more  strictly  among  their  sub- 
jects in  far-away  Carolina.  So  Timothy  Biggs,  of 
the  Little  River  Settlement,  was  appointed  sur- 
veyor of  customs,  and  Valentine  Byrd,  of  Pasquo- 
tank,  collector  of  customs,  with  orders  to  enforce 
the  navigation  acts  and  other  trade  laws,  so  long 
disregarded. 

There  was  violent  opposition  to  this  decision  of 
the  Lords,  as  was  to  have  been  expected;  but  fin- 
ally the  settlers  were  persuaded  to  allow  the  offi- 
cers to  perform  their  duty.  Valentine  Byrd,  him- 
self, one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential  men 
in  Albemarle,  was  by  no  means  rigid  or  exacting 
in  collecting  the  tobacco  tax ;  and  for  several  years 
longer,  though  the  laws  were  ostensibly  observed, 
numerous  ways  were  found  to  evade  them.  The 


22 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

colonists,  however,  were  by  no  means  satisfied; 
for  though  they  were  successful  in  avoiding  a 
strict  adherence  to  the  laws,  and  in  continuing 
their  trade  with  New  England,  still  the  fact  that 
the  hated  acts  were  in  force  at  all,  wras  to  them  a 
thorn  in  the  flesh. 

Matters  soon  reached  a  crisis,  and  the  smould- 
ering feeling  of  resentment  against  the  Proprie- 
tors broke  out  into  open  rebellion.  In  1676  the 
Lords  appointed  Thomas  Eastchurch  Governor  of 
Albemarle  and  Thomas  Miller  collector  of  customs 
for  that  settlement.  Both  of  these  men,  who  were 
then  in  London,  had  previously  lived  in  Albemarle 
and  had  incurred  the  enmity  of  some  of  the  lead- 
ing men  in  the  settlement,  Eastchurch  especially 
being  in  bad  repute  among  the  planters. 

In  1677,  Eastchurch  and  Miller  departed  from 
London  to  take  up  their  duties  in  Carolina.  Stop- 
ping at  the  Island  of  Nevis  on  their  way  over, 
Eastchurch  became  enamored  of  the  charms 
(and  the  fortune)  of  a  fair  Creole  who  there 
abode,  and  dallied  on  the  island  until  he  succeeded 
in  winning  the  lady's  hand.  Miller,  whom  East- 
church  appointed  his  deputy  in  Carolina,  con- 
tinued on  his  way  alone.  When  he  reached  Albe- 
marle, the  people  received  him  kindly  and  allowed 
him  to  fill  Eastchurch's  place.  But  no  sooner  had 
he  assumed  the  reins  of  government  than  he  be- 


23 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

gan  a  rigid  enforcement  of  the  trade  and  naviga- 
tion laws.  Of  course  the  planters  resented  his 
activity  in  this  direction,  and  most  bitterly  did 
they  resent  his  compelling  a  strict  payment  of  the 
tobacco  tax.  Possibly,  however,  no  open  rebellion 
would  have  occurred,  had  not  Miller  proceeded  to 
high-handed  and  arbitrary  deeds,  making  himself 
so  obnoxious  to  the  people  that  finally  they  were 
wrought  up  to  such  an  inflammable  state  of  mind 
that  only  a  spark  was  needed  to  light  the  flames 
of  revolution. 

And  that  spark  was  kindled  in  December,  1677, 
when  Captain  Zachary  Gilliam,  a  shrewd  New 
England  shipmaster,  came  into  the  colony  in  his 
trig  little  vessel,  "The  Carolina,"  bringing  with 
him,  besides  the  supplies  needed  by  the  planters 
for  the  winter  days  at  hand,  ammunition  and  fire- 
arms which  a  threatened  Indian  uprising  made 
necessary  for  the  safety  of  the  settlers'  homes. 

On  board  the  "Carolina"  was  George  Durant, 
the  first  settler  in  the  colony,  and  the  acknowl- 
edged leader  in  public  affairs  in  Albemarle.  He 
had  been  over  to  England  to  consult  the  Lords 
Proprietors  concerning  matters  relating  to  the 
colony,  and  was  returning  to  his  home  on  Durant's 
Neck. 

Through  the  inlet  at  Ocracoke  the  "Carolina" 
slipped,  over  the  broad  waters  of  Pamlico  Sound, 


24 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

past  Roanoke  Island,  home  of  Virginia  Dare,  and 
into  Albemarle  Sound.  Then  up  the  blue  waters 
of  the  Pasquotank  she  sailed,  with  "Jack  ancient 
flag  and  pennant  flying,"  as  Miller  indignantly 
relates,  till  she  came  to  anchor  at  Captain  Craw- 
ford's landing,  just  off  the  shore  from  Enfield 
Farm. 

Gladly  did  the  bluff  captain  and  the  jovial  plan- 
ter row  ashore  from  their  sea-tossed  berths. 
Many  were  the  friendly  greetings  extended  them, 
both  prime  favorites  among  the  settlers,  who 
came  hurrying  down  to  Enfield  when  the  news  of 
the  "Carolina's"  arrival  spread  through  the  com- 
munity. Eager  questions  assailed  them  on  every 
side  concerning  news  of  loved  ones  in  the  mother 
country;  and  a  busy  day  did  Captain  Gilliam  put 
in,  chaffering  and  bargaining  with  the  planters 
who  anxiously  surrounded  him  in  quest  of  long 
needed  supplies. 

Durant,  though  doubtless  impatient  to  proceed 
as  quickly  as  possible  to  his  home  and  family  in 
Perquimans,  nevertheless  spent  the  day  pleasantly 
enough  talking  to  his  brother  planters,  Valentine 
Byrd,  Samuel  Pricklove,  and  others.  All  was 
going  merrily  as  a  marriage  bell  when  suddenly 
Deputy  Governor  Miller  appeared  on  the  scene, 
accused  Gilliam  of  having  contraband  goods  on 
board,  and  of  having  evaded  the  export  tax  on  to- 


25 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

bacco  when  he  sailed  out  of  port  with  his  cargo  a 
year  before.  A  violent  altercation  arose,  in  which 
the  planters,  with  few  exceptions,  sided  with  Gil- 
liam,  who  indignantly  (if  not  quite  truthfully)  de- 
nied the  charges  brought  against  him. 

Miller  at  last  withdrew,  muttering  imprecations 
and  threats  against  Gilliam;  but  about  10  o'clock 
that  night  he  returned  with  several  government 
officials,  boarded  the  "Carolina"  and  attempted  to 
arrest  both  Gilliam  and  Durant.  The  planters, 
among  whom  were  Valentine  Byrd,  Captain  Craw- 
ford, Captain  Jenkins  and  John  Culpeper,  hear- 
ing of  the  disturbance,  anxious  for  the  safety  of 
their  friends,  and  fearing  lest  Gilliam  should  sail 
away  before  they  had  concluded  their  purchases, 
came  hurrying  in  hot  haste  to  the  rescue.  Rowing 
swiftly  out  to  the  little  vessel,  they  quickly  turned 
the  tables  on  the  Governor  and  his  officials;  and  to 
their  indignant  surprise,  Miller  and  his  men 
found  themselves  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the 
rebels.  Then  the  insurgents,  with  John  Culpeper, 
now  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  revolt,  at 
their  head,  rowed  ashore  to  the  landing  with  their 
captives ;  and  in  the  old  house  at  Enfield,  on  a  bluff 
near  the  bank  of  the  river — so  goes  our  local  tra- 
dition— the  angry  and  astonished  Governor  was 
imprisoned. 

Then   the   revolutionists   proceeded   to    "Little 


26 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

River  Poynte,"  probably  the  settlement  which 
afterwards  grew  into  the  town  of  Nixonton,  and 
seized  Timothy  Biggs,  the  surveyor  and  deputy 
collector  of  customs,  who  had  been  wringing  the 
tobacco  tax  from  the  farmers.  Then  breaking 
open  the  chests  and  the  locks,  they  found  and  took 
possession  of  Miller's  commission  as  collector  of 
customs  and  returned  to  Enfield,  where  they 
locked  Biggs  up  with  Miller  in  Captain  Craw- 
ford's house. 

For  two  weeks  the  deputy  governor  and  the 
deputy  collector  were  kept  close  prisoners  at  En- 
field.  The  revolutionists  in  the  meanwhile  drew 
up  a  document  known  as  "The  Remonstrance  of 
the  Inhabitants  of  Pasquotank,"  in  which  they 
stated  the  grievances  that  had  led  them  to  take 
this  high-handed  manner  of  circumventing  Miller 
and  Biggs  in  their  tyrannical  proceedings.  This 
"remonstrance"  was  sent  to  the  precincts  of  Cur- 
rituck,  Perquimans  and  Chowan ;  and  the  planters, 
following  the  example  of  their  neighbors  in  Pas- 
quotank, rose  in  insurrection  against  the  other 
collectors  of  the  hated  customs  and  export  tax, 
and  arrested  and  deposed  the  collectors. 

At  the  end  of  a  fortnight,  the  insurgents  decided 
to  take  Miller  and  Biggs  to  George  Durant's  home 
in  Durant's  Neck.  So  the  prisoners  were  taken  on 
board  one  of  the  planter's  vessels;  and  down  the 


27 


Pasquotank,  into  the  sound,  and  a  short  distance 
up  Little  River,  the  rebels  sailed,  accompanied  by 
several  vessels  filled  with  armed  men.  As  they 
passed  the  "Carolina,"  that  saucy  little  ship,  which 
as  Miller  afterwards  indignantly  reported  to  the 
Lords  Proprietors,  "had  in  all  these  confusions 
rid  with  Jack  Ensign  Flag  and  Pennon  flying," 
just  off  the  shore  from  Enfield,  saluted  Culpeper, 
Durant  and  their  companions  by  firing  three  of 
her  guns. 

Arrived  at  Durant's  home,  where  some  seventy 
prominent  men  of  the  colony  had  assembled,  the 
revolutionists  proceeded  to  establish  a  govern- 
ment of  their  own.  John  Jenkins  was  appointed 
governor,  an  assembly  of  eighteen  men  was 
elected,  and  a  court  convened  before  which  Miller 
and  Biggs  were  brought  for  trial  on  a  charge  of 
treason.  But  before  the  trial  was  ended,  Governor 
Eastchurch,  who  had  arrived  in  Virginia  while 
these  affairs  were  taking  place,  sent  a  proclama- 
tion to  the  insurgents  commanding  them  to  dis- 
perse and  return  to  their  homes.  This  the  bold 
planters  refused  to  do,  and  in  further  defiance  of 
Eastchurch,  the  new  officials  sent  an  armed  force 
to  prevent  his  coming  into  the  colony. 

Eastchurch  appealed  to  Virginia  to  help  him 
establish  his  authority  in  Carolina ;  but  while  he 
was  collecting  forces  for  this  purpose  he  fell  ill 


28 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

and  died.  Durant,  Culpeper,  Byrd  and  their  com- 
rades were  now  masters  in  Albemarle. 

The  interrupted  trials  were  never  completed. 
Biggs  managed  to  escape  and  made  his  way  to 
England.  Miller  was  kept  a  prisoner  for  two 
years  in  a  little  log  cabin  built  for  the  purpose  at 
the  upper  end  of  Pasquotank,  near  where  the  old 
brick  house  now  stands.  In  two  years'  time  Miller 
also  contrived  to  escape,  and  found  his  way  back 
to  the  mother  country. 

For  ten  years  the  Albemarle  colony  prospered 
under  the  wise  and  prudent  management  of  the 
officers,  whom  the  people  had  put  in  charge  of 
affairs  without  leave  or  license  from  lord  or  king. 
But  finally  Culpeper  and  Durant  decided  of  their 
own  accord  to  give  up  their  authority  and  restore 
the  management  of  affairs  to  the  Proprietors.  An 
amicable  settlement  wras  arranged  with  these  own- 
ers of  Albemarle,  who,  realizing  the  wrongs  the 
settlers  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  Miller  and  his 
associates,  made  no  attempt  to  punish  the  leaders 
of  the  rebellion.  John  Harvey  was  quietly  in- 
stalled as  temporary  governor  until  Seth  Sothel, 
one  of  the  Proprietors,  should  come  to  take  up  the 
reins  of  government  himself. 

So  at  Enfield  Farm,  now  the  property  of  one  of 
Pasquotank's  most  successful  farmers  and  busi- 
ness men,  Mr.  Jeptha  Winslow,  began  a  disturb- 


29 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

ance  which  culminated  a  hundred  years  later  in 
the  Revolutionary  War ;  and  here,  in  embryo  form, 
in  1677,  was  the  beginning  of  our  republic — "a 
government  of  the  people,  for  the  people,  by  the 
people." 


30 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    HECKLEFIELD   FARM 

OF  THE  old  Hecklefield  house  on  Little  River 
in  Perquimans  County,  mentioned  so  often 
in  the  Colonial  Records  as  the  place  of 
meeting  for  the  Governor's  Council,  the  General 
Court,  and  on  one  notable  occasion,  as  the  legis- 
lative hall  of  the  Grand  Assembly  of  Albemarle, 
not  one  stick  or  stone  is  left  standing  to-day.  Only 
a  few  bricks  where  the  great  chimney  once  stood 
now  remain,  to  suggest  to  the  imagination  the  hos- 
pitable hearth  around  whose  blazing  logs  the  Gov- 
ernor and  his  colleagues,  the  Chief  Justice  and  his 
associates,  and  the  Speaker  of  the  Assembly  and 
his  fellow  representatives  used  to  gather,  when 
the  old  home  was  the  scene  of  the  public  meetings 
of  the  Albemarle  Colony. 

The  Hecklefield  home  was  located  on  Durant's 
Neck  on  the  plantation  adjoining  the  tract  of  land 
purchased  by  George  Durant  from  Kilcokonen, 
the  great  chief  of  the  Yeopims.  Though  no  one 
now  living  remembers  the  ancient  building,  yet 
the  residents  of  Durant's  Neck  to-day,  many  of 
whom  are  the  descendants  of  the  early  settlers  in 
that  region,  confidently  point  out  the  site  of  Cap- 
tain Hecklefield's  house,  and  with  one  accord  agree 


31 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

to  its  location,  "about  three  hundred  yards  to  the 
north  of  the  main  Durant's  Neck  road,  at  the  foot 
of  the  late  Calvin  Humphries'  Lane." 

An  old  sycamore  tree,  whose  great  girth  gives 
evidence  of  the  centuries  it  has  seen,  stands  by  the 
side  of  the  road  at  the  entrance  to  the  lane.  Its 
mottled  trunk  and  wide  spreading  branches  are 
one  of  the  landmarks  of  the  region.  And  beneath 
its  sheltering  boughs,  Durant  and  Catchmaid, 
Pricklove  and  Governor  Drummond  himself,  who, 
tradition  claims,  was  one  of  the  residents  of  Du- 
rant's Neck,  may  often  have  met  to  talk  over  the 
affairs  of  the  infant  settlement.  Governor  Hyde 
and  Chief  Justice  Gale  have  doubtless  often  hailed 
with  relief  the  glistening  white  branches  and 
broad  green  leaves  of  the  old  tree,  whose  outlines 
had  grown  familiar  through  many  a  journey  to 
Hecklefield's  home  on  business  of  state. 

No  description  of  the  house  is  now  extant.  But 
that  the  building  must  have  been,  for  those  days, 
large  and  commodious,  is  evident  from  the  fact 
that  so  often  beneath  its  roof  the  leading  men  of 
the  colony  gathered  to  transact  affairs  of  public 
interest.  On  no  less  than  twenty  occasions  did 
executive,  judicial  and  legislative  officers  assemble 
at  Captain  Hecklefield's  to  perform  their  various 
duties.  That  a  private  home  was  chosen  as  the 
scene  of  these  gatherings  arose  from  the  fact  that 


32 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

for  over  forty  years  after  the  first  recorded  settle- 
ment in  North  Carolina,  no  town  had  been 
founded  within  her  borders.  Therefore  no  public 
building  of  any  kind,  court-house  or  capitol,  had 
been  erected,  and  the  Council,  the  Assembly  and 
the  Court  were  held  at  the  homes  of  those  planters, 
whose  houses  were  large  enough  to  accommodate 
such  assemblies. 

Local  tradition  tells  us  that  the  first  court  ever 
held  in  our  State  was  convened  under  a  great 
beech  still  standing  on  Flatty  Creek,  an  arm  of 
the  broad  Pasquotank,  in  Pasquotank  County. 
But  no  records  of  this  court  can  be  found,  nor  does 
tradition  tell  whether  the  judge  and  advocates, 
plaintiffs  and  defendants,  witnesses  and  jury  as- 
sembled beneath  the  branches  of  that  ancient  tree, 
still  strong  and  sturdy,  came  in  answer  to  the  call 
for  the  Palatine  Court,  the  General  Court,  or  the 
more  frequently  assembled  Precinct  Court. 

The  first  Albemarle  Assembly  in  1665,  was  also 
held  out  in  the  open,  the  verdant  foliage  of  an- 
other historic  tree  for  roof,  the  soft  moss  for  car- 
pet. But  by  1670  the  homes  of  the  planters  were 
being  built  of  sufficient  size  to  accommodate  these 
public  meetings ;  and  from  that  time  until  Edenton 
was  founded  and  became  the  seat  of  government, 
we  find  these  private  homes  being  used  for  public 
gatherings. 


33 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Of  Captain  John  Hecklefield  himself,  though  his 
name  appears  very  frequently  in  the  Colonial 
Records  from  1702  until  1717,  but  little  is  known. 
Of  his  ancestry  nothing  can  be  ascertained,  nor  do 
we  know  how  or  when  he  came  into  Albemarle. 
It  is  not  even  certain  that  he  owned  the  home 
assigned  as  his,  for  no  record  of  lands  bought  by 
him  can  be  found  in  the  records  of  Perquimans 
County.  But  that  he  must  have  been  a  man  of  high 
social  standing  and  of  great  weight  in  the  com- 
munity is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  was  a 
deputy  of  the  Lords  Proprietors,  and  thus  became 
ex  officio  one  of  the  seven  Associate  Justices  of  the 
General  Court.  The  fact  also  that  his  home  was 
so  often  selected  for  the  meeting  of  the  General 
Court,  a  body  which  in  colonial  days  corresponded 
very  closely  to  our  modern  Supreme  Court;  that 
the  Governor's  Council  of  which  he,  as  a  deputy 
for  one  of  the  Lords,  was  a  member,  and,  that  on 
one  occasion,  the  Albemarle  Assembly  was  called 
to  meet  at  his  home,  fixes  his  standing  in  the  com- 
munity. 

The  first  mention  made  of  Captain  Hecklefield 
is  found  in  Vol.  I  of  the  Colonial  Records,  where 
the  following  notice  is  inscribed :  "At  a  General 
Court  held  at  ye  house  of  Captain  John  Hecklefield 
in  Little  River,  Oct.  27,  1702.  Being  present  the 


34 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Hon.  Samuel  Swann,  Esq.,  the  Hon.  William  Glo- 
ver, Esq.,  Jno.  Hawkins,  Esq." 

From  that  day  until  1717,  we  find  many  in- 
stances of  these  public  gatherings  at  Captain 
Hecklefield's  home.  The  most  prominent  men  in 
the  Albemarle  Colony  were  often  there  assembled. 
To  the  sessions  of  the  General  Court  came  Edward 
Moseley,  the  Justice  of  the  Court,  leader  of  the 
Gary  faction  in  the  Glover-Cary  disturbance  of 
1708,  Chief  Commissioner  for  North  Carolina 
when  the  boundary  line  between  Virginia  and 
Carolina  was  established,  Speaker  of  the  Assembly 
for  four  years,  master  of  plantations  and  many 
slaves,  and  withal  a  very  courteous  gentleman 
and  learned  scholar.  Christopher  Gale,  first  judi- 
cial officer  in  Carolina  to  receive  the  commission 
as  Chief  Justice,  in  wig  and  silken  gown,  upheld 
the  majesty  of  the  law  at  the  sessions  of  the 
General  Court,  assisted  by  his  confreres,  John 
Porter,  Thomas  Symonds,  and  John  Blount. 

At  the  first  Council  held  at  Captain  Heckle- 
field's,  July  4,  1712,  we  find  among  the  dignitaries 
assembled  on  that  occasion,  Edward  Hyde,  first 
Governor  of  North  Carolina,  as  separate  and  dis- 
tinct from  South  Carolina,  and  first  cousin  of 
Queen  Anne.  This  lordly  gentleman  commanded 
"most  awful  respect,"  and  doubtless  received  it 
from  planter  and  farmer.  With  him  came  Thomas 


35 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Pollock,  leader  of  the  Glover  faction,  owner  of 
55,000  acres  of  land,  numerous  flocks  of  sheep 
and  herds  of  cattle  and  of  many  vessels  trading 
with  the  New  England  and  West  Indian  ports,  a 
merchant  prince  of  colonial  days,  and  destined  to 
become  twice  acting  Governor  of  North  Carolina. 

Some  years  later,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Council  in 
April,  1714,  Charles  Eden,  lately  appointed  by  the 
Proprietors  to  succeed  Hyde,  who  had  died  of  yel- 
low fever  during  the  trouble  with  the  Tuscaroras, 
took  the  oath  of  office  at  Captain  Hecklefield's 
home,  and  became  Governor  of  North  Carolina. 
Among  the  members  of  the  Council  present  on  this 
occasion  were  Colonel  Thomas  Byrd,  Nathan  Che- 
vin,  and  William  Reed,  all  prominent  men  in  Pas- 
quotank,  and  the  two  former,  leading  churchmen 
of  that  county,  and  active  members  of  the  vestry 
of  St.  John's  Parish.  Tobias  Knight  wras  also  there, 
a  wealthy  resident  of  Bath  then,  though  he  too  had 
formerly  lived  in  Pasquotank.  Knight  was  later 
to  win  notoriety  as  a  friend  and  colleague  of 
Teach,  the  pirate.  And  Governor  Eden  himself 
was  later  accused  of  collusion  with  Blackbeard, 
though  no  sufficient  proof  could  be  found  to  bring 
him  to  trial. 

By  what  means  of  locomotion  these  high  digni- 
taries of  the  colony  found  their  way  to  Durant's 
Neck,  we  can  only  conjecture.  Possibly  a  coach 


36 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

and  four  may  have  borne  Governor  Eden  and  Gov- 
ernor Hyde  the  long  journey  from  Chowan  and 
Bath  to  Hecklefield's  door.  Possibly  Judge  and 
advocate,  members  of  the  Assembly  and  coun- 
cilors, preferred  to  make  the  trip  on  horseback, 
breaking  the  journey  by  frequent  stops  at  the 
homes  of  the  planters  in  the  districts  through 
which  they  traveled,  meeting  along  the  road 
friends  and  acquaintances  bound  on  the  same 
errand  to  the  same  destination.  And  as  the  caval- 
cade increased  in  numbers  as  it  drew  nearer  the 
end  of  the  journey,  doubtless  the  hilarity  of  the 
travelers  increased ;  and  by  the  time  the  old  syca- 
more was  sighted,  it  was  a  gay,  though  weary,  pro- 
cession that  turned  into  the  lane  and  passed  be- 
neath its  branches,  down  to  where  the  old  house 
stood  near  the  banks  of  the  river. 

More  probably,  however,  the  members  of  Coun- 
cil, Court  or  Assembly,  met  at  some  wharf  in 
their  various  precincts,  and  embarking  on  the 
swift  sloops  of  the  great  planter,  made  the  trip  to 
Durant's  Neck  by  water.  Down  the  Pamlico,  Cho- 
wan, Perquimans  and  Pasquotank  the  wrhite-sailed 
vessels  bore  their  passengers  into  Albemarle 
Sound  and  a  short  distance  up  Little  River;  then 
disembarking  at  the  Hecklefield  Landing,  where 
the  hospitable  host  of  the  occasion  was  doubtless 
waiting  to  receive  the  travelers,  they  made  their 


37 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

way  with  many  a  friendly  interchange  of  gossip 
and  jest  to  the  great  house,  standing  back  from 
the  river  beneath  the  arching  branches  of  the 
sheltering  sycamores. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  important  of 
all  the  public  gatherings  convened  at  the  Heckle- 
field  home  was  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly  on 
October  11,  1708,  to  decide  which  of  the  two  claim- 
ants of  the  office  of  President  of  the  Council,  or 
Deputy  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  should  have 
just  right  to  that  office.  The  two  rival  claimants 
were  Thomas  Gary,  of  the  precinct  of  Pamlico, 
and  William  Glover,  of  Pasquotank.  To  under- 
stand the  situation  which  necessitated  the  calling 
of  a  special  session  of  the  Assembly  to  settle  the 
dispute  between  the  two  men,  it  may  be  well 
to  review  the  events  leading  up  to  this  meeting. 

In  1704,  when  Queen  Anne  came  to  the  throne 
of  England,  Parliament  passed  an  act  requiring 
all  public  officers  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  new  sovereign.  The  Quakers  in  Carolina,  who 
in  the  early  days  of  the  colony  were  more  numer- 
ous than  any  other  religious  body  in  Albemarle, 
had  hitherto  been  exempt  from  taking  an  oath 
when  they  qualified  for  office.  Holding  religiously 
by  the  New  Testament  mandate,  "Swear  not  at 
all,"  they  claimed,  and  were  allowed  the  privilege, 
of  making  a  declaration  of  like  tenor  as  the  oath, 


38 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

substituting  for  the  words,  "I  swear"  the  expres- 
sion, to  them  equally  binding,  "I  affirm." 

But  when  Governor  Henderson  Walker  died,  Sir 
Nathaniel  Johnson,  then  Governor  of  North  and 
South  Carolina,  sent  Major  Robert  Daniel  from 
South  Carolina  to  take  Walker's  place  as  Deputy 
Governor  of  the  Northern  Colony. 

Daniel  was  an  ardent  member  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  was  strongly  desirous  of  establish- 
ing this  church  in  Carolina  by  law.  But  he  knew 
that  so  long  as  the  Quakers  were  members  of  the 
Assembly,  and  held  high  office  in  Albemarle,  this 
law  could  never  be  passed.  Therefore  he  deter- 
mined to  demand  a  strict  oath  of  office  from  all 
who  were  elected  to  fill  public  positions.  This  de- 
termination was  carried  out.  The  Quakers  were 
driven  from  the  Assembly,  which  body,  subser- 
vient to  the  new  Governor,  passed  the  law  estab- 
lishing the  Church  of  England  in  Albemarle. 

But  the  Quakers  did  not  submit  tamely  to  this 
deprivation  of  their  ancient  rights  and  privileges. 
Many  of  the  most  influential  men  in  the  colony, 
especially  in  Pasquotank  and  Perquimans,  were 
Friends;  and  they  determined  to  appeal  to  the 
Proprietors  to  uphold  them  in  their  claim  to  a 
share  in  the  government.  The  Dissenters  in  the 
colony  joined  with  them  in  their  plea,  and  the 
result  was  that  Governor  Daniel  was  removed 


39 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

from  office,  and  Governor  Johnson  ordered  by  the 
Lords  to  appoint  another  deputy  for  the  Northern 
Colony.  Thomas  Gary,  of  South  Carolina,  re- 
ceived the  appointment  and  came  into  Albemarle 
to  take  up  the  reins  of  government.  But  lo,  and 
behold!  no  sooner  was  he  installed  in  office  than 
he,  too,  like  Daniel,  made  it  known  that  he  would 
allow  no  one  to  hold  office  who  refused  to  be  sworn 
in,  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  Parliament. 

Quakers  and  Dissenters  again  banded  together, 
this  time  to  have  Gary  deposed;  and  John  Porter 
hastened  to  England  to  state  their  grievances  to 
the  Lords.  Porter  also  petitioned  in  behalf  of  the 
Quakers  and  their  supporters,  that  the  law  requir- 
ing the  oaths  should  be  set  aside ;  and  also  that  the 
colony  should  be  allowed  to  choose  its  own  Gover- 
nor from  its  own  Council. 

The  Lords  again  listened  favorably  to  the  peti- 
tioners, and  Porter  returned  to  Carolina,  bringing 
with  him  a  written  agreement  to  the  petition. 
Gary,  during  Porter's  absence,  had  left  the  colony, 
and  William  Glover,  of  Pasquotank,  was  admin- 
istering the  government.  On  Porter's  return, 
Glover  was  allowed  to  retain  the  office ;  but  later, 
to  the  surprise  and  disappointment  of  Friend  and 
Dissenter,  he,  too,  decided  to  refuse  to  admit  to 
office  any  who  refused  to  take  the  hated  oaths. 


40 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Gary  returned  at  this  juncture  and  demanded  to 
be  reinstated  as  Deputy  Governor;  and  Porter 
and  other  former  supporters  of  Glover  now  went 
to  his  side.  A  new  Council  was  chosen,  and  Gary 
made  its  president,  on  condition,  as  we  infer,  that 
he  carry  out  the  will  of  the  Proprietors  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  commission  given  to  Porter. 

But  Glover  was  by  no  means  disposed  to  sur- 
render his  office  tamely  to  Gary,  and  still  claimed 
the  authority  with  which  he  had  been  invested. 
Many  prominent  citizens  supported  him  in  his 
claim,  Thomas  Pollock,  one  of  the  most  influential 
of  the  planters,  being  his  warmest  adherent.  So 
now  there  were  two  governments  in  the  colony, 
each  claiming  to  be  the  only  right  and  lawful  one. 
Disputes  over  the  matter  grew  so  numerous  and 
violent  that  finally  the  two  factions  agreed  to  leave 
the  decision  of  the  matter  to  a  new  Assembly 
which  was  elected  at  this  juncture.  And  this  was 
the  Assembly  that  convened  at  Captain  Heckle- 
field's  in  1708. 

Edward  Moseley  was  elected  Speaker;  the  rival 
claims  of  the  two  governors  duly  and  hotly  de- 
bated; and  the  result  was,  that  Gary's  friends 
being  in  the  majority,  that  worthy  was  declared 
to  be  the  true  and  lawful  ruler  of  the  colony. 
Glover,  Pollock  and  Christopher  Gale,  disgusted 


41 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

with  the  turn  affairs  had  taken,  left  Carolina  and 
went  to  Virginia,  where  they  remained  for  two 
years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  Edward  Hyde,  the 
Queen's  first  cousin,  was  appointed  Governor  of 
North  Carolina,  and  these  malcontents  returned 
to  their  homes  in  Albemarle. 

And  how  did  Madam  Hecklefield  manage  to  pro- 
vide for  the  numerous  guests  who  so  often  met 
around  her  fireside?  The  housewife  to-day  would 
rebel  at  such  frequent  invasions  of  the  privacy  of 
her  home:  and  the  high  price  of  living  would  in- 
deed prohibit  such  wholesale  entertainment  of  the 
public;  but  in  those  good  old  days  living  was  easy. 
The  waters  of  Little  River  and  Albemarle  Sound 
teemed  with  fish ;  the  woods  were  full  of  deer  and 
other  wild  game ;  the  fields  were  musical  with  the 
clear  call  of  the  quail ;  slaves  were  ready  to  do  the 
bidding  of  the  lady  of  the  manor ;  wood  was  plen- 
tiful for  the  big  fire-places,  and  candles  easily 
moulded  for  the  lighting  of  the  rooms.  No  one  in 
those  days  was  used  to  the  modern  luxury  of  a 
private  room  and  bath ;  and  the  guests  doubtless 
shared  in  twos  and  threes  and  fours  the  rooms 
placed  at  their  disposal.  So,  Madam  Hecklefield, 
with  a  mind  at  ease  from  domestic  cares,  was  able 
to  greet  her  guests  with  unruffled  brow. 

The  neighboring  planters  doubtless  came  to  the 


42 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

rescue,  and  helped  to  provide  bed  and  board  for 
the  gentry  whom  Captain  Hecklefield  could  not 
accommodate ;  and  the  lesser  fry  found  the  humb- 
ler settlers  on  the  "Neck"  no  less  hospitable  in 
opening  their  doors  to  them,  though  very  probably 
good  coin  of  the  realm  often  settled  the  debt  be- 
tween guest  and  host. 

After  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly  of  1708,  va- 
rious other  public  gatherings  took  place  at  the 
Hecklefield  home,  until  November  22,  1717.  On 
this  occasion  the  colony  was  formally  notified  of 
the  death  of  Queen  Anne,  and  George  I  was  pro- 
claimed the  "Liege  Lord  of  Carolina." 

At  this  meeting  Governor  Charles  Eden  was 
present,  and  serving  with  him  were  the  Honorable 
Thomas  Byrd,  and  Nathaniel  Chevin,  of  Pasquo- 
tank,  and  Christopher  Gale  and  Francis  Foster,  all 
deputies  of  the  Proprietors. 

This  being  the  first  recorded  occasion  in  North 
Carolina  of  a  proclamation  announcing  the  death 
of  one  sovereign  and  ascension  to  the  throne  of 
another,  the  quaint  phraseology  of  the  original 
document  may  be  of  more  interest  than  a  modern 
version  of  its  contents: 

"Whereas  we  have  received  Certain  Informa- 
tion from  Virginia  of  the  death  of  our  late  Sov- 
ereign Lady,  Queen  Anne,  of  Blessed  Memory  by 


43 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

whose  death  the  Imperial  Crownes  of  Create 
Brittaine  ffrance  and  Ireland  are  Solely  and 
Rightfully  Come  to  the  High  and  Mighty  Prince 
George  Elector  of  Brunswick  Luenburg — 

"Wee  therefore  doe  by  this  our  proclamation 
with  one  full  voice  and  Consent  of  Heart  and 
Tongue  Publish  and  proclaim  that  the  High  and 
Mighty  Prince  George  Elector  of  Brunswick  Luen- 
burg is  now  by  the  death  of  our  late  Sovereigne 
of  happy  memory  become  our  Lawful  and  rightful 
Leighe  Lord  George  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of 
Create  Brittaine  ffrance  and  Ireland,  Defender  of 
the  Faith  etc.,  To  whom  wee  doe  all  hearty  and 
humble  affection.  Beseeching  Obedience  with 
long  and  happy  Years  to  raigne  over  us.  Given 
etc.,  the  16th  Day  of  November,  1714." 

This  proclamation  having  been  duly  read,  the 
Governor  and  his  Council  proceeded  to  subscribe 
to  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  new  sovereign,  as 
did  Tobias  Knight,  collector  of  customs,  from  Cur- 
rituck,  and  other  public  officers  present. 

This  meeting,  with  one  exception,  a  Council  held 
in  1717,  is  the  last  recorded  as  occurring  at  the 
Hecklefield  home.  Edenton,  founded  in  1715,  be- 
came the  seat  of  government  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  meetings  affecting  the  affairs  of  the 
colony  were  for  the  most  part  held  there  in  the 
court-house  built  soon  after. 


44 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Captain  John  Hecklefield's  house  on  Little  River 
now  disappears  from  history;  but  though  no 
longer  the  scene  of  the  public  activities  of  Albe- 
marle,  it  doubtless  kept  up  for  many  years  its 
reputation  as  the  center  of  all  that  was  best  in  the 
social  life  of  the  colony. 


45 


CHAPTER  V 

COLONIAL   DAYS   IN   CHURCH    AND   SCHOOL    ON 
LITTLE  RIVER,  PASQUOTANK  COUNTY 

AMONG  the  many  wide  and  beautiful  rivers 
that  drain  the  fertile  lands  of  ancient  Al- 
bemarle, none  is  more  full  of  historic  in- 
terest than  the  lovely  stream  known  as  Little 
River,  the  boundary  set  by  nature  to  divide  Pas- 
quotank  County  on  the  east  from  her  sister  county, 
Perquimans,  on  the  west. 

On  the  shores  of  this  stream,  "little,"  as  com- 
pared with  the  other  rivers  of  Albemarle,  but  of 
noble  proportions  when  contrasted  with  some  of 
the  so-called  rivers  of  our  western  counties,  the 
history  of  North  Carolina  as  an  organized  govern- 
ment had  its  beginning. 

As  early  as  1659  settlers  began  moving  down 
into  the  Albemarle  region  from  Virginia,  among 
them  being  George  Durant,  who  spent  two  years 
searching  for  a  suitable  spot  to  locate  a  planta- 
tion, finally  deciding  upon  a  fertile,  pleasant  land 
lying  between  Perquimans  River  on  the  west,  and 
Little  River  on  the  east.  Following  Durant  came 
George  Catchmaid,  John  Harvey,  John  Battle,  Dr. 
Thomas  Relfe  and  other  gentlemen,  who  settled  on 
Pasquotank,  Perquimans  and  Little  rivers,  buying 


46 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

their  lands  from  the  Indians;  and  later,  when 
Charles  II  included  the  Albemarle  region  in  the 
grant  to  the  Lords  Proprietors,  taking  out  patents 
for  their  estates  from  these  new  owners  of  the 
soil,  paying  the  usual  quit-rents  for  the  same. 

John  Jenkins,  Valentine  Byrd,  and  other 
wealthy  men  came  later  into  this  newly  settled 
region,  and  by  1663  the  Albemarle  region  was  a 
settlement  of  importance,  and  Governor  Berkeley, 
of  Virginia,  one  of  the  Lords  Proprietors,  had, 
with  the  concurrence  of  his  partners  in  this  new 
land,  sent  William  Drummond  to  govern  the 
colony ;  and  the  Grand  Assembly  of  Albemarle  had 
held  its  first  session  at  Hall's  Creek,  an  arm  of 
Little  River,  in  Pasquotank  County. 

In  1664,  when  the  Clarendon  colony  was  broken 
up,  many  of  the  settlers  from  the  Cape  Fear 
region  came  into  Albemarle ;  and  in  1666  this  sec- 
tion received  a  fresh  influx  of  immigrants  from 
the  West  Indies,  many  of  whom  settled  upon  Little 
River  and  embarked  upon  the  then  lucrative  trade 
of  ship-building.  The  usual  natural  advantages 
of  the  section  made  it  in  many  respects  a  desirable 
land  for  the  new  comers.  Still  there  were  many 
drawbacks  to  the  well  being  of  the  settlers,  among 
the  most  serious  of  which  was  the  lack  of  the  two 
factors  which  make  for  the  true  progress  of  a 
country,  educational  and  religious  facilities  and 
privileges. 

47 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Carolina  was  settled  in  a  very  different  manner 
from  most  of  her  sisters  among  the  thirteen  colo- 
nies. To  those  regions  settlers  came  in  groups, 
often  a  whole  community  migrating  to  the  new 
land,  taking  with  them  ministers,  priests  and 
teachers ;  and  wherever  they  settled,  however  wild 
and  desolate  the  land,  they  had  with  them  those 
two  mainstays  of  civilization. 

But  into  the  Albemarle  colony  the  settlers  came 
a  family  at  a  time ;  and  instead  of  towns  and  town 
governments  being  organized,  the  well-to-do  set- 
tlers with  their  families  and  servants  established 
themselves  upon  large  plantations,  building  their 
homes  far  apart,  and  devoting  their  time  to  agri- 
cultural pursuits. 

So  it  is  not  surprising  that  for  many  years  the 
only  religious  exercises  in  which  the  Carolina  set- 
tler could  take  part  were  such  as  he  held  in  his 
own  home,  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England 
reading  the  prayers  and  service  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  the  Dissenter  using  such  service 
as  appealed  most  to  him. 

As  for  the  education  of  the  children,  the  wealthy 
planter  would  often  engage  in  his  service  some 
indentured  servant,  often  a  man  of  learning,  who 
would  gladly  give  his  services  for  a  number  of 
years  for  the  opportunity  of  coming  to  this  new 
Land  of  Promise.  And  in  later  years  as  the  boys 


48 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

of  the  family  outgrew  the  home  tutor,  they  were 
sent  to  the  mother  country  to  finish  their  educa- 
tion at  Oxford  or  Cambridge. 

But  the  poor  colonist  had  none  of  these  means 
of  giving  his  children  an  education ;  and  for  many 
years,  indeed,  not  until  1705,  we  can  find  no  men- 
tion of  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  settlers  to 
provide  a  school  for  the  children  of  the  poor. 

But  about  twelve  years  after  George  Durant  set- 
tled on  Little  River,  the  religious  condition  of  Albe- 
marle  began  to  improve.  In  the  spring  of  that 
year,  William  Edmundson,  a  faithful  friend  and 
follower  of  George  Fox,  the  founder  of  the  Quaker 
Church,  came  into  Albemarle  and  held  the  first 
public  religious  service  ever  heard  in  the  colony 
at  the  house  of  Henry  Phelps,  who  lived  in  Per- 
quimans  County,  near  where  the  old  town  of  Hert- 
ford now  stands.  From  there  he  went  into  Pas- 
quotank,  where  he  was  gladly  received  and  grate- 
fully heard.  The  following  fall  George  Fox  came 
into  the  two  counties  himself,  preached  to  the 
people  and  made  a  number  of  converts  to  the 
Quaker  doctrine. 

This  religious  body  grew  in  numbers  and  influ- 
ence, and  according  to  the  Colonial  Records,  "At  a 
monthly  meeting  held  at  Caleb  Bundy's  house  in 
1703,  it  is  agreed  by  Friends  that  a  meeting-house 
be  built  at  Pasquotank  with  as  much  speed  as  may 


49 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

be."  And  later,  between  1703  and  1706,  this  plan 
was  carried  out,  and  on  the  banks  of  Symons 
Creek,  an  arm  of  Little  River,  between  the  two 
ancient  settlements  of  Nixonton  and  Newbegun 
Creek,  the  first  Quaker  meeting-house  (and  with 
the  exception  of  the  old  church  in  Chowan  built 
by  members  of  the  Church  of  England),  the  first 
house  of  worship  in  the  State,  was  built. 

Rough  and  crude  was  this  house  of  God,  simple 
and  plain  the  large  majority  of  the  men  and 
women  who  gathered  there  to  worship  in  their 
quiet,  undemonstrative  way  the  Power  who  had 
led  them  to  this  land  of  freedom.  But  the  Word 
preached  to  these  silent  listeners  in  that  rude 
building  inspired  within  them  those  principles 
upon  which  the  foundation  of  the  best  citizenship 
of  our  State  was  laid. 

The  Church  of  England,  though  long  neglectful 
of  her  children  in  this  distant  colony,  had  by  this 
time  begun  to  waken  to  her  duty  towards  the 
sheep  of  her  fold  in  Carolina.  Somewhere  about 
1700  a  missionary  society  sent  a  clergyman  to  the 
settlement,  and  in  1708  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ackers  writes 
to  Her  Majesty's  Secretary  in  London  that  "The 
Citizens  of  Pasquotank  have  agreed  to  build  a 
church  and  two  chapels."  As  to  the  location  of 
these  edifices,  history  remains  silent ;  but  that  the 
church  had  been  sowing  good  seed  in  this  new  and 


50 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

fertile  soil  is  shown  by  the  account  given  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Adams  of  the  people  of  Pasquotank,  to 
whom  he  had  been  sent  as  rector  of  the  parish  in 
that  county. 

According  to  the  letter  written  by  Mr.  Adams 
to  Her  Majesty's  Secretary,  there  had  come  into 
the  county  with  the  settlers  from  the  West  Indies 
a  learned,  public-spirited  layman  named  Charles 
Griffin,  who,  seeing  the  crying  need  of  the  people, 
had  established  by  1705  a  school  on  Symons  Creek, 
for  the  children  of  the  settlers  near  by. 

Being  a  loyal  son  of  the  Church  of  England,  he 
insisted  upon  reading  the  morning  and  evening 
service  of  that  church  daily  in  his  school,  and  he 
required  his  young  charges  to  join  in  the  prayers 
and  make  the  proper  responses.  So  faithful  and 
efficient  a  teacher  did  he  prove  that  even  the 
Quakers  who  had  suffered  many  things  from  the 
Church  of  England,  as  well  as  from  their  dissent- 
ing brethren,  were  glad  to  send  their  children  to 
his  school. 

The  Colonial  Records  contain  many  references 
to  the  wide  and  beneficent  influence  exerted  by 
Mr.  Griffin  while  acting  in  his  two-fold  capacity 
of  teacher  and  lay-reader  in  Pasquotank. 

Governor  Glover  in  a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of 
London  in  1708  writes :  "In  Pasquotank  an  orderly 
congregation  has  been  kept  together  by  the  in- 


51 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

dustry  of  a  young  gentleman  whom  the  parish  has 
employed  to  read  the  services  of  the  Church  of 
England.  This  gentleman  being  a  man  of  un- 
blemished life,  by  his  decent  behavior  in  that  office, 
and  by  apt  discourses  from  house  to  house,  not 
only  kept  those  he  found,  but  gained  many  to  the 
church." 

Again  and  again  in  the  pages  of  the  Colonial 
Records,  Vol.  I,  are  the  praises  of  Charles  Griffin 
sung ;  though,  sad  to  say,  in  the  latter  days  of  his 
life  he  seems  to  have  fallen  from  grace,  and  to 
have  become  involved  in  some  scandal,  the  par- 
ticulars of  which  are  not  given.  This  scandal 
must  have  been  proved  unfounded,  or  he  lived  it 
down ;  for  we  hear  of  him  in  after  years  as  a  pro- 
fessor in  William  and  Mary  College. 

History  contains  no  record  of  the  location  of 
Charles  Griffin's  school,  but  according  to  tradition, 
and  to  the  old  inhabitants  of  that  section,  it  was 
located  on  Symons  Creek,  not  far  from  the  ancient 
Quaker  meeting-house.  This  latter  building, 
erected  somewhere  between  1703  and  1706,  was 
standing,  within  the  memory  of  many  among  the 
older  citizens  of  our  county,  some  of  whom  retain 
vivid  recollections  of  attending,  when  they  were 
children,  the  services  held  by  the  Friends  in  this 
house  of  worship. 

It  may  be  of  interest  here  to  mention  that  the 


52 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

heirs  of  the  late  Elihu  White,  of  Belvidere,  to 
whom  the  property  belonged,  have  lately  donated 
the  site  of  the  meeting-house  on  Symons  Creek  to 
the  Quakers  of  that  section,  of  whom  there  are 
still  quite  a  number.  And  once  again,  after  a 
lapse  of  many  years,  will  the  ancient  worship  be 
resumed  on  the  shores  of  that  quiet  stream. 

To  the  pioneer  settlers  on  Little  River,  then,  be- 
longs the  honor  of  starting  the  wheels  of  govern- 
ment at  Hall's  Creek,  of  erecting  on  Symons  Creek 
the  second  house  of  worship  in  the  State,  and  of 
establishing  on  that  same  tributary  of  Little 
River  the  first  school  in  North  Carolina. 


53 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   HAUNTS  OF  BLACKBEARD 

THE  NAME  of  the  famous  pirate,  Teach,  or 
Blackbeard,  as  he  was  familiarly  known, 
plays  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  early  his- 
tory of  North  Carolina,  and  survives  in  many 
local  traditions  on  our  coast. 

Many  spots  along  our  sounds  and  rivers  have 
been  honey-combed  by  diggers  after  the  pirate's 
buried  hoard.  Tradition  says  that  it  was  the 
gruesome  custom  of  those  fierce  sea  robbers  to 
bury  the  murdered  body  of  one  of  their  own  band 
beside  the  stolen  gold,  that  his  restless  spirit  might 
"walk"  as  the  guardian  of  the  spot.  And  weird 
tales  are  still  told  of  treasure  seekers  who,  search- 
ing the  hidden  riches  of  Teach  and  his  band,  on 
lonely  islands  and  in  tangled  swamps  along  our 
eastern  waterways,  have  been  startled  at  their 
midnight  task  by  strange  sights  and  sounds,  weird 
shapes  and  balls  of  fire,  which  sent  the  rash  in- 
truder fleeing  in  terror  from  the  haunted  spot. 

Hardly  a  river  that  flows  into  our  eastern 
sounds  but  claims  to  have  once  borne  on  its  bosom 
the  dreaded  "Adventure,"  Blackbeard's  pirate 
craft ;  hardly  a  settlement  along  those  streams  but 
retains  traditions  of  the  days  when  the  black  flag 


54 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

of  that  dreaded  ship  could  be  seen  streaming  in 
the  breeze  as  the  swift  sails  sped  the  pirates  by,  on 
murder  and  on  plunder  bent.  Up  Little  River 
that  flows  by  George  Durant's  home  down  to  the 
broad  waters  of  Albemarle  Sound,  Teach  and  his 
drunken  crew  would  come,  seeking  refuge  after 
some  bold  marauding  expedition,  in  the  hidden 
arms  of  that  lovely  stream.  Up  the  beautiful  Pas- 
quotank,  into  the  quiet  waters  of  Symons  Creek 
and  Newbegun  Creek,  the  dreaded  bark  would 
speed,  and  the  settlers  along  those  ancient  streams 
would  quake  and  tremble  at  the  sound  of  the  loud 
carousing,  the  curses  and  shouts  that  made  hid- 
eous the  night. 

On  all  these  waters  "Teach's  Light"  is  still  said 
to  shed  a  ghostly  gleam  on  dark,  winter  nights; 
and  where  its  rays  are  seen  to  rest,  there,  so  the 
credulous  believe,  his  red  gold  still  hides,  deep 
down  in  the  waters  or  buried  along  the  shore. 

A  few  miles  down  the  Pasquotank  from  Eliza- 
beth City,  North  Carolina,  there  stands  near  the 
river  shore  a  quaint  old  building  known  as  "The 
Old  Brick  House,"  which  is  said  to  have  been  one 
of  the  many  widely  scattered  haunts  of  Black- 
beard.  A  small  slab  of  granite,  circular  in  shape, 
possibly  an  old  mill  wheel,  is  sunken  in  the  ground 
at  the  foot  of  the  steps  and  bears  the  date  of 
1709,  and  the  initials  "E.  T." 


55 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

The  ends  of  the  house  are  of  mingled  brick  and 
stone,  the  main  body  of  wood.  The  wide  entrance 
hall,  paneled  to  the  ceiling,  opens  into  a  large 
room,  also  paneled,  in  which  is  a  wide  fireplace 
with  a  richly  carved  mantel  reaching  to  the  ceil- 
ing. On  each  side  of  this  mantel  there  is  a  closet 
let  into  the  wall,  one  of  which  communicates  by  a 
secret  door  with  the  large  basement  room  below. 
Tradition  says  that  from  this  room  a  secret  pas- 
sage led  to  the  river ;  that  here  the  pirate  confined 
his  captives,  and  that  certain  ineffaceable  stains 
upon  the  floor  in  the  room  above,  hint  of  dark 
deeds,  whose  secret  was  known  only  to  the  under- 
ground tunnel  and  the  unrevealing  waters  below. 

Standing  on  a  low  cliff  overlooking  the  Pasquo- 
tank,  whose  amber  waters  come  winding  down 
from  the  great  Dismal  Swamp  some  ten  miles 
away,  the  old  house  commands  a  good  view  of  the 
river,  which  makes  a  wide  bend  just  where  the 
ancient  edifice  stands.  And  a  better  spot  the  pirate 
could  not  have  found  to  keep  a  lookout  for  the 
avenging  ship  that  should  track  him  to  his  hiding 
place.  And  should  a  strange  sail  heave  in  sight, 
or  one  which  he  might  have  cause  to  fear  was 
bringing  an  enemy  to  his  door,  quickly  to  the 
secret  closet  near  the  great  mantel  in  the  banquet 
hall  would  Blackbeard  slip,  drop  quietly  down  to 
the  basement  room  beneath,  bending  low,  rush 


56 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

swiftly  through  the  underground  tunnel,  slip  into 
the  waiting  sloop  and  be  off  and  away  up  the  river 
or  down,  whichever  was  safest,  out  of  reach  of  the 
enemy. 

But  though  many  of  the  streams  and  towns  in 
the  Albemarle  region  retain  these  traditions  of 
Blackbeard,  in  little  Bath,  the  oldest  town  in 
North  Carolina,  can  the  greatest  number  of  these 
tales  be  heard ;  and  with  good  reason,  for  here  in 
this  historic  village,  the  freebooter  made  his  home 
for  a  month  or  so  after  he  had  availed  himself  of 
the  king's  offer  of  pardon  to  the  pirates  who  would 
surrender  themselves  and  promise  to  give  over 
their  evil  mode  of  life. 

This  ancient  village,  founded  in  1705,  is  situated 
on  Bath  Creek,  by  which  modest  name  the  broad, 
beautiful  body  of  water,  beside  which  those  early 
settlers  built  their  homes,  is  called.  The  banks  of 
the  creek  are  high  and  thickly  wooded,  rising 
boldly  from  the  water,  in  striking  contrast  with 
the  low,  marshy  shores  of  most  of  our  eastern 
rivers. 

Near  the  shores  of  the  creek,  just  outside  the 
town,  there  is  still  to  be  seen  a  round  brick  struc- 
ture resembling  a  huge  oven,  called  Teach's  Kettle, 
in  which  the  pirate  is  said  to  have  boiled  the  tar 
with  which  to  calk  his  vessels.  Across  the  creek 
from  the  town  are  the  ruins  of  "the  Governor's 


57 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Mansion,"  where,  it  is  claimed,  Governor  Eden 
died.  In  an  old  field  a  short  distance  from  the 
mansion  is  a  deep  depression  filled  with  broken 
bricks,  which  was  the  governor's  wine  cellar. 
Nearly  on  a  line  with  this,  at  the  water's  edge,  is 
shown  the  opening  of  a  brick  tunnel,  through 
which  the  Pirate  Teach  is  said  to  have  conveyed 
his  stolen  goods  into  the  governor's  wine  cellar  for 
safe  keeping.  That  Governor  Eden,  for  reasons 
best  known  to  himself,  winked  at  the  pirate's  free- 
booting  expeditions,  and  that  there  was  undoubt- 
edly some  collusion  between  Blackbeard  and  the 
chief  magistrate  of  the  State,  was  generally  be- 
lieved; though  Eden  vehemently  denied  all  part- 
nership with  the  freebooter. 

To  the  latter  class  of  narrative  the  following 
thrilling  tale,  which  combines  very  ingeniously  the 
various  points  of  historic  interest  in  Bath,  must, 
it  is  to  be  feared,  belong.  The  story  goes  that 
Blackbeard,  with  the  consent  of  her  father,  was 
suing  for  the  hand  of  Governor  Eden's  daughter. 
The  young  lady,  for  the  excellent  reason  that  she 
preferred  another  and  better  man,  declined  abso- 
lutely to  become  the  pirate's  bride. 

Finally,  in  a  desperate  attempt  to  elude  his 
pursuit,  Miss  Eden  bribed  two  of  her  father's 
slaves  to  row  her  across  the  creek  in  the  dead  of 
the  night  to  Bath.  Here  she  took  refuge  in  the 


58 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

"Old  Marsh  House"  with  her  friend,  Mrs.  Palmer, 
whose  memorial  tablet  is  now  in  St.  Thomas 
Church  at  Bath,  the  oldest  house  of  worship  in 
the  State. 

Teach,  infuriated  at  the  lady's  continued  rejec- 
tion of  his  suit,  put  out  to  sea  on  one  of  his  pirati- 
cal excursions.  The  prize  he  captured  on  this 
occasion  was  Miss  Eden's  lover,  his  hated  rival. 
The  story  goes  that  Blackbeard  cut  off  one  of  the 
hands  of  the  unfortunate  captive,  threw  his  body 
into  the  sea,  and  enclosing  the  gruesome  relic  in 
a  silver  casket,  as  if  it  were  some  costly  gift,  sent 
it  with  many  compliments  to  his  lady  love.  When 
the  unfortunate  maiden  opened  the  casket  and  saw 
the  ghastly  object  she  uttered  a  terrible  shriek 
and  swooned  from  horror ;  then,  as  was  the  fash- 
ion in  the  old  romances,  pined  slowly  away  and 
died  of  a  broken  heart. 

Now,  at  first  blush,  it  seems  that  this  interest- 
ing tale  has  enough  corroborating  evidences  of  its 
veracity  to  pass  down  to  the  coming  ages  as  true 
history.  A  visitor  to  Bath  can  see  for  himself 
every  one  of  the  places  mentioned  in  the  story. 
The  tablet  in  old  St.  Thomas  Church  testifies  in 
many  a  high-sounding  phrase  the  many  virtues 
of  Miss  Eden's  friend,  Mrs.  Margaret  Palmer ;  and 
the  "Old  Marsh  House"  is  still  standing,  a  well 
preserved  and  fascinating  relic  of  the  past,  where 


59 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

the  above  lady  is  said  to  have  sheltered  her  friend. 
We  speak  of  facts  as  hard  and  stubborn  things, 
but  dates  are  as  the  nether  millstone  for  hard- 
ness. And  here  are  the  rocks  on  which  our  lovely 
story  shatters :  Teach  was  captured  and  beheaded 
in  1718;  Mrs.  Palmer's  tablet  reports  her  to  have 
been  born  in  1721,  and  the  Marsh  House  was  not 
built  until  1744.  The  story  is  a  beautiful  instance 
of  the  way  in  which  legends  are  made. 

After  so  much  that  is  traditional,  a  brief  sketch 
of  the  pirate's  life  may  not  be  amiss.  According 
to  Francis  Xavier  Martin's  History  of  North 
Carolina,  Edward  Teach  was  born  in  Bristol, 
England.  While  quite  young  he  took  service  on 
a  privateer  and  fought  many  years  for  king  and 
country  with  great  boldness.  In  1796  he  joined 
one  Horngold,  one  of  a  band  of  pirates  who  had 
their  rendezvous  in  the  Bahamas,  taking  refuge 
when  pursued,  in  the  sounds  and  rivers  of  North 
Carolina. 

On  his  first  cruise  with  the  pirate,  Teach  cap- 
tured a  sloop,  of  which  Horngold  gave  him  the 
command.  He  put  forty  guns  on  board,  named 
the  vessel  "Queen  Anne's  Revenge,"  and  started 
on  a  voyage  to  South  America.  Here  Teach  re- 
ceived news  of  the  king's  proclamation  of  pardon 
for  all  pirates  who  would  surrender  themselves. 
So,  having  collected  much  plunder,  and  wishing  to 


60 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

secure  it,  he  came  to  North  Carolina.  With  twenty 
of  his  men  he  proceeded  to  Governor  Eden's  house, 
surrendered  himself  and  received  the  king's 
pardon. 

Soon  after,  Blackbeard  married  a  young  girl, 
his  thirteenth  wife,  and  settled  down  near  Bath 
with  the  intention,  apparently,  of  becoming  a 
peaceable  citizen;  but  his  good  resolutions  were 
soon  broken;  "being  good"  did  not  appeal  to  the 
bold  sea  rover,  and  soon  he  was  back  again  on 
the  high  seas,  pursuing  unchecked  his  career  of 
plunder. 

Finally,  the  people  in  desperation,  finding  Gov- 
ernor Eden  either  unable  or  unwilling  to  put  an 
end  to  the  pirate's  depredations,  appealed  to  Gov- 
ernor Spotswood,  of  Virginia,  for  aid,  and  the 
pirate  was  finally  captured  and  beheaded  by  Lieu- 
tenant Maynard,  whom  Spotswood  put  in  com- 
mand of  the  ship  that  went  out  to  search  for  this 
terror  of  the  seas. 

Seen  through  the  softening  haze  of  two  centu- 
ries, the  figure  of  the  redoubtable  sea  robber 
acquires  a  romantic  interest,  and  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  many  good  and  highly  respected  citi- 
zens of  eastern  North  Carolina  number  themselves 
quite  complacently  among  the  descendants  of  the 
bold  buccaneer. 


61 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   OLD  BRICK    HOUSE — A   TRUE    HISTORY   OF   THE 

HISTORIC  DWELLING  REPUTED  TO   BE   THE 

HOME  OF  THE  FAMOUS  PIRATE 

LOCAL   tradition   claims   that  the   old   brick 
house  described  in  the  foregoing  chapter, 
was  once  a  haunt  of  the  famous  pirate,  Ed- 
ward Teach,  or  Blackbeard,  as  he  was  commonly 
called. 

Wild  legends  of  lawless  revel  and  secret  crime 
have  grown  up  about  the  old  building,  until  its 
time-stained  walls  seem  steeped  in  the  atmosphere 
of  gloom  and  terror  which  the  poet  Hood  has  so 
graphically  caught  in  his  "Haunted  House" : 

"But  over  all  there  hung  a.  cloud  of  fear — 
A  sense  of  mystery,  the  spirit  daunted, 
And  said  as  plain  as  whisper  in  the  ear, 
'The  house  is  haunted.'  " 

It  is  said  that  the  basement  room  of  the  Brick 
House  served  as  a  dungeon  for  prisoners  taken  in 
Teach's  private  raids  and  held  for  ransom. 

There  are  darker  stories,  too,  of  deeds  whose 
secret  was  known  only  to  the  hidden  tunnel  and 
unrevealing  waters  below. 

But  tradition  has  been  busy  with  other  occu- 
pants of  the  old  house.  It  is  said  to  have  been  in 

62 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

colonial  days  the  home  of  a  branch  of  an  ancient 
and  noble  English  family. 

To  the  care  of  these  gentlefolk  their  kinsmen 
of  old  England  were  said  to  have  entrusted  a 
young  and  lovely  girl  in  order  to  separate  her 
from  a  lover,  whose  fortunes  failed  to  satisfy  the 
ambition  of  her  proud  and  wealthy  parents. 

The  lover  followed  his  fair  one  across  the  seas, 
and  entered  in  disguise  among  the  guests  assem- 
bled at  the  great  ball  which  was  given  at  the  Brick 
House  in  honor  of  their  recently  arrived  and 
charming  guest.  The  young  lady's  brother,  who 
had  accompanied  her  to  this  country,  penetrated 
the  disguise  of  her  lover. 

"Words  of  high  disdain  and  insult"  passed  be- 
tween the  young  men,  a  duel  followed,  and  the 
lover  fell,  leaving  on  the  floor  dark  stains  which 
are  said  to  remain  to  this  day,  in  silent  witness  to 
the  tragedy  of  long  ago. 

Many  years  after,  in  a  closet  of  the  old  house,  a 
faded  pink  satin  slipper  was  found  which  tradi- 
tion naturally  assigns  to  the  fair  but  unhappy 
heroine  of  the  old  tale  of  love  and  death. 

So  much  for  tradition. 

The  story  of  Teach's  occupation  of  the  Old 
Brick  House  has  not  been  received  without  ques- 
tion, but  in  default  of  more  accurate  knowledge, 
it  has  been  accepted. 


63 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Recently,  certain  facts  have  come  to  light  con- 
cerning the  ancient  building  which  are  briefly 
given  below. 

The  information  referred  to  was  given  by  Mr. 
Joseph  Sitterson,  a  prominent  resident  of  Wil- 
liamston,  North  Carolina. 

According  to  Mr.  Sitterson,  the  Old  Brick  House 
was  the  property  of  his  great  grandmother,  Nancy 
Murden.  This  lady  was  a  descendant  of  Lord 
Murden,  who  in  1735  sent  out  an  expedition  in 
charge  of  his  eldest  son  to  make  a  settlement  in 
the  New  World. 

The  party  obtained,  whether  by  grant  or  pur- 
chase is  not  known,  the  land  on  which  the  Old 
Brick  House  now  stands.  A  sandy  ridge  extends 
into  Camden  County,  and  is  known  to  this  day  as 
Murden's  Ridge. 

Young  Murden  had  brought  with  him  from 
England  the  brick  and  stone,  the  carved  mantel 
and  paneling,  which  entered  into  the  construction 
of  the  new  home  he  now  proceeded  to  build. 

It  is  thought  that  the  house  was  intended  to  be 
entirely  of  brick ;  but  the  end  walls  of  the  massive 
chimneys  having  exhausted  the  supply,  the  build- 
ing was  finished  with  wood.  The  house  was 
planned  with  the  greatest  care  for  defense  against 
the  Indian  raids ;  hence  the  sliding  panels,  and  the 
roomy  and  secret  spaces  in  which  the  family  plate 


64 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

and  jewels  brought  from  the  old  country  could  be 
quickly  concealed,  in  case  of  sudden  attack. 

With  the  same  end  in  view,  there  were  built  in 
the  basement,  from  the  rich  timber  of  the  adjoin- 
ing woods,  stalls  of  cedar,  the  narrow  windows  of 
which  can  still  be  seen.  In  these  stalls  the  ponies 
were  kept  for  fear  of  Indian  raids. 

It  is  believed  that  in  the  troubled  times  preced- 
ing the  American  Revolution,  Lord  Murden's  son 
succeeded  to  his  father's  large  estates  and  re- 
turned to  England  to  claim  his  inheritance. 

After  the  Revolution,  his  American  lands  were 
confiscated  and  became  the  property  of  the  State. 

Shortly  after  the  war  two  brothers  of  the  Mur- 
den  family  came  to  North  Carolina,  entered  the 
old  property  and  took  charge  of  it. 

These  brothers  married  sisters,  the  Misses  Saw- 
yer. In  time  the  Old  Brick  House  came  into  the 
possession  of  Nancy  Murden,  a  descendant  of  one 
of  the  brothers  Murden. 

At  her  death  she  left  the  property  as  follows: 
One-third  to  Isaac  Murden,  one-third  to  Jerry 
Murden,  one-third  to  Nancy  Murden,  her  grand- 
children. 

This  will  is  recorded  in  the  court-house  at  Eliza- 
beth City,  North  Carolina. 


65 


CHAPTER  VIII 

"ELMWOOD/'  THE  OLD  SWANN  HOMESTEAD  IN 
PASQUOTANK  COUNTY 

ON  A  LOW  bluff,  overlooking  the  waters  of 
the  beautiful  Pasquotank  River,  some  five 
or  six  miles  from  Elizabeth  City,  there 
stood  until  a  few  years  before  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War,   an   old  colonial  mansion  known 
as  "Elmwood,"  the  home  for  many  years  of  the 
historic  Swann  family,  who  were  among  the  ear- 
liest settlers  in  our  State,  and  played  a  prominent 
part  in  the  colonial  history  of  North  Carolina. 

Mrs.  J.  P.  Overman,  of  Elizabeth  City,  whose 
father,  the  late  Dr.  William  Pool,  of  Pasquotank 
County,  spent  his  boyhood  days  at  Elmwood,  then 
the  home  of  his  father,  has  given  the  writer  a  de- 
scription of  this  historic  house,  as  learned  from 
her  father :  "The  house  was  situated  on  the  right- 
hand  bank  of  the  river,  and  was  set  some  distance 
back  from  the  road.  It  was  built  of  brick  brought 
from  England,  and  was  a  large,  handsome  build- 
ing for  those  days.  As  I  recall  my  father's  de- 
scription of  it,  the  house  was  two  stories  high ;  a 
spacious  hall  ran  the  full  length  of  the  house, 
both  up-stairs  and  down ;  and  in  both  the  upper 
and  lower  story  there  were  two  large  rooms  on 


66 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

each  side  of  the  hall.  A  broad,  massive  stairway 
led  from  the  lower  hall  to  the  one  above.  The 
house  stood  high  from  the  ground,  the  porch  was 
small  for  the  size  of  the  building,  and  the  windows 
were  high  and  narrow.  The  ceilings  of  the  rooms 
on  the  first  floor  had  heavy,  carved  beams  of  cedar 
that  ran  the  length  of  the  house.  On  the  left  of 
the  house  as  you  approached  from  the  river  road, 
stretched  a  dense  woods,  abounding  in  deer,  and  in 
those  days  these  animals  would  venture  near  the 
homes  of  men,  and  feed  in  the  fields." 

The  great  planters  in  those  early  days  in  North 
Carolina,  spent  their  working  hours  looking  after 
the  affairs  of  their  estates,  settling  the  disputes  of 
their  tenants,  and  attending  with  their  fellow- 
landed  neighbors  the  sessions  of  the  General  As- 
sembly, and  of  the  courts.  Their  pleasures  were 
much  the  same  as  those  of  their  kinsmen  across 
the  sea  in  merry  England — fox-hunting,  feasting 
and  dancing;  though  to  these  amusements  of  the 
old  country  were  added  the  more  exciting  deer 
chase,  and  the  far  more  dangerous  pastime  of  a 
bear  hunt,  when  bruin's  presence  near  the  home- 
stead became  too  evident  for  comfort.  Often  the 
wild  screams  of  the  fierce  American  panther 
would  call  the  planters  forth  into  the  dark  forests 
at  their  doors,  and  then  it  must  be  a  hunt  to  the 
death,  for  until  that  cry  was  stilled,  every  house 


67 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

within  the  shadow  of  the  forest  was  endangered. 
Among  the  homes  of  the  planters  in  the  ancient 
counties  of  Pasquotank,  Currituck,  Perquimans 
and  Chowan,  Elmwood  was  noted  for  the  hospi- 
tality of  its  earliest  owners,  the  Swanns ;  and  the 
long  list  of  prominent  families  who  afterwards 
lived  within  its  walls,  kept  alive  the  old  traditions 
of  hospitality. 

On  many  a  clear,  crisp  autumn  day,  the  lawn  in 
front  of  the  mansion  would  be  filled  with  gentry 
on  horseback,  dressed  after  the  fashion  of  their 
"neighbors"  across  the  sea  in  hunting  coats  of 
pink,  ready  for  a  hunt  after  the  wily  fox.  The 
master  of  the  hounds,  William  Swann  himself, 
would  give  the  signal  for  the  eager  creatures  to 
be  unloosed,  the  bugle  would  sound,  and  the  cry 
"off  and  away"  echo  over  the  fields,  and  the  chase 
would  be  on.  A  pretty  run  would  reynard  give 
his  pursuers,  and  often  the  shades  of  evening 
would  be  falling  ere  the  hunters  would  return  to 
Elmwood,  a  tired,  bedraggled  and  hungry  group. 
Then  at  the  hospitable  board  the  day's  adventures 
would  be  related,  and  after  the  dinner  a  merry 
dance  would  close  the  day. 

At  Christmas,  invitations  would  be  issued  to  the 
families  of  the  gentry  in  the  nearest  counties,  to 
attend  a  great  ball  at  Elmwood.  The  old  house 
would  be  filled  from  garret  to  cellar,  and  the  hos- 


68 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

pitable  homes  of  nearby  friends  would  open  to 
take  in  the  overflow  of  guests.  Dames  and 
maidens  coy,  clad  in  the  quaint  and  picturesque 
colonial  costume,  with  powdered  hair  and  patches, 
in  richly  brocaded  gowns  and  satin  slippers,  made 
stately  courtesy  to  gay  dandies  and  jovial  squires 
arrayed  in  coats  of  many  colors,  broidered  vests, 
knee  breeches  and  silken  hose,  brilliant  buckles  at 
knee  and  on  slippers,  their  long  hair  worn  ring- 
leted and  curled,  or  tied  in  queues.  In  stately  meas- 
ure the  graceful  minuet  would  open  the  ball.  Then 
the  gayer  strains  of  the  old  Virginia  reel  would 
cause  even  the  dignified  dame  or  sober  squire  to 
relax;  and  in  laughter  and  merry-making  the 
hours  would  speed,  till  the  gradual  paling  of  the 
stars  and  a  flush  in  the  east  would  warn  the  merry 
dancers  that  "the  night  was  far  spent,  and  the 
day  was  at  hand." 

Such  are  the  tales  still  told  in  our  county  of  the 
olden  days  at  Elmwood — tales  handed  down  from 
father  to  son,  and  preserved  in  the  memories  of 
the  old  inhabitants  of  Pasquotank.  And  all  such 
memories  should  be  preserved  and  recorded  ere 
those  who  hold  them  dear  have  passed  away,  and 
with  them,  the  traditions  that  picture  to  a  genera- 
tion all  too  heedless  of  the  past,  the  life  of  these, 
our  pioneer  forefathers. 

From  this  old  home  more  distinguished  men 


69 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

have  gone  forth  than  probably  from  any  other 
home  in  North  Carolina. 

The  Hon.  J.  Bryan  Grimes  in  an  address  made 
before  the  State  Historical  Society  at  Raleigh  in 
1909,  gives  a  long  list  of  eminent  Carolinians  who 
have  called  Elmwood  their  home.  Among  them 
were  Colonel  Thomas  Swann  and  Colonel  William 
Swann,  both  in  colonial  days  Speakers  of  the 
Assembly;  three  members  of  the  family  by  the 
name  of  Samuel  Swann,  and  John  Swann,  mem- 
bers of  Congress.  Here  lived  Fred  Blount,  son  of 
Colonel  John  Blount,  an  intimate  friend  of  Gov- 
ernor Tryon.  William  Shephard,  a  prominent 
Federalist,  for  some  years  made  Elmwood  his 
home.  The  Rev.  Solomon  Pool,  President  of  the 
University  of  North  Carolina,  and  his  brother, 
John  Pool,  United  States  Senator  from  North 
Carolina,  both  spent  their  boyhood  days  in  this 
ancient  mansion.  And,  as  Colonel  Grimes'  re- 
searches into  the  history  of  this  old  home  have 
made  known,  and  as  he  relates  in  his  speech  on 
"The  Importance  of  Memorials,"  "At  Elmwood 
lived,  and  with  it  were  identified,  ten  Speakers  of 
the  Assembly,  five  Congressmen,  one  United  States 
Senator,  one  President  of  the  State  University, 
and  one  candidate  for  Governor." 

One  of  the  Samuel  Swanns  who  resided  at  Elm- 
wood  was  the  brave  young  surveyor,  who,  with 


70 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

his  comrades,  Irvine  and  Mayo,  was  the  first  to 
plunge  into  the  tangled  depths  of  the  Dismal 
Swamp,  when  the  boundary  line  between  North 
Carolina  and  Virginia  was  established. 

Before  the  War  between  the  States  had  been  de- 
clared, the  old  house  was  burned  to  the  ground; 
and  since  then  the  estate  has  been  cut  into  smaller 
farms,  and  the  family  burying-ground  has  been 
desecrated  by  treasure-seekers,  who  in  their  mad 
greed  for  gold  have  not  hesitated  to  disturb  the 
bones  of  the  sacred  dead. 

Just  when  or  how  the  old  home  was  burned,  no 
one  is  able  to  tell.  Whatever  the  circumstances  of 
the  destruction  of  this  fine  old  building,  the  loss 
sustained  by  the  county,  and  by  the  State,  is  irre- 
parable. 


71 


CHAPTER  IX 

PASQUOTANK  IN  COLONIAL  WARS 

THE  earliest  wars  in  which  the  pioneers  of 
North  Carolina  took  part  were  those 
fought  between  the  first  comers  into  the 
State  and  the  Indians.  As  Pasquotank  was  one 
of  the  earliest  of  the  counties  to  be  settled,  we 
might  naturally  expect  that  county  to  have  taken 
an  active  part  in  those  encounters.  The  fact,  how- 
ever, that  the  great  majority  of  her  early  settlers 
were  Friends,  or  Quakers,  as  they  are  more  com- 
monly called,  prevented  Pasquotank  from  sharing 
as  extensively  as  she  otherwise  might  have  done  in 
the  fight  for  existence  that  the  pioneers  in  Caro- 
lina were  compelled  to  maintain;  for  one  of  the 
most  rigid  rules  of  the  Quaker  Church  is  that 
its  members  must  not  take  up  arms  against 
their  fellow  men,  no  matter  what  the  provocation 
may  be. 

However,  a  search  through  the  Colonial  Records 
reveals  the  fact  that  our  county  has  given  a  fair 
quota  of  men  and  money  whenever  the  domestic 
or  foreign  troubles  of  colony,  state  or  nation, 
needed  her  aid. 

The  first  encounter  between  our  sturdy  Anglo- 
Saxon  forefathers  and  the  red  man  of  the  forest 


72 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

occurred  in  1666,  two  years  after  William  Drum- 
mond  took  up  the  reins  of  government  in  Albe- 
marle.  After  this  trouble  little  is  recorded,  nor 
is  Pasquotank  nor  any  of  her  precincts  mentioned 
in  reference  to  the  Indian  War.  But  as  the  ma- 
jority of  the  settlers  in  North  Carolina  then  lived 
along  the  shores  of  Little  River  and  the  Pasquo- 
tank, we  may  feel  sure  that  the  men  of  this  county 
were  prominent  in  subduing  their  savage  foes, 
who,  as  Captain  Ashe  records,  "were  so  speedily 
conquered  that  the  war  left  no  mark  upon  the 
infant  settlement." 

From  then  until  the  terrible  days  of  the  Tusca- 
rora  Massacre  of  1711,  the  county,  and  Albemarle 
as  a  whole,  rested  from  serious  warfare;  but 
these  years  can  hardly  be  termed  peaceful  ones 
for  the  settlers  in  this  region.  The  Culpeper  Re- 
bellion, the  dissatisfaction  caused  by  the  tyranni- 
cal and  illicit  deeds  of  Seth  Sothel,  the  disturbance 
caused  by  Captain  Bibbs,  who  claimed  the  office  of 
governor  in  defiance  of  Ludwell,  whom  the  Lords 
had  appointed  to  rule  over  Carolina,  and  the  Gary 
troubles,  all  combined  to  keep  the  whole  Albemarle 
district  in  a  state  of  confusion  and  disorder  for 
many  years. 

But  all  of  these  quarrelings  and  brawlings  were 
hushed  and  forgotten  when  in  September,  1711, 
the  awful  tragedy  of  the  Tuscarora  Massacre  oc- 


73 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

curred.  Though  the  settlers  south  of  Albemarle 
Sound,  in  the  vicinity  of  Bath  and  New  Bern,  and 
on  Roanoke  Island,  suffered  most  during  those 
days  of  horror,  yet  from  the  letters  of  the  Rev. 
Rainsford  and  of  Colonel  Pollock,  written  during 
these  anxious  days,  we  learn  that  the  planters 
north  of  the  sound  came  in  for  their  share  of  the 
horrors  of  an  Indian  uprising  that  swept  away  a 
large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony, 
and  left  the  southern  counties  almost  depopulated. 
Though  nearly  paralyzed  by  the  blow  that  had 
fallen  upon  the  colony,  which,  in  spite  of  difficul- 
ties, had  been  steadily  growing  and  prospering, 
the  officers  of  the  government  as  soon  as  possible 
began  to  take  steps  to  punish  the  Tuscaroras  and 
their  allies  for  the  unspeakable  atrocities  commit- 
ted by  them  during  the  awful  days  of  the  massa- 
cre, and  also  to  devise  means  for  conquering  the 
savage  foes  who  were  still  pursuing  their  bloody 
work.  All  the  able-bodied  men  in  the  State  were 
called  upon  to  take  part  in  the  warfare  against  the 
Indians.  But  so  few  were  left  alive  to  carry  on 
the  struggle,  that  Governor  Hyde  was  compelled  to 
call  upon  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  and  of 
Virginia  to  come  to  his  aid  in  saving  the  colony 
from  utter  extinction.  South  Carolina  responded 
nobly  and  generously.  Virginia,  for  various  rea- 
sons, sent  but  little  aid  to  her  afflicted  sister  col- 


74 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

ony.  For  two  long  years  the  war  continued,  until 
at  last  the  Indians  were  conquered,  the  surviving 
hostile  Tuscaroras  left  the  State,  and  peace  was 
restored  to  the  impoverished  and  sorely  tried 
colony. 

During  the  bloody  struggle,  Pasquotank,  which, 
with  the  other  northern  counties  suffered  but  little 
in  comparison  with  the  counties  south  of  the  Albe- 
marle,  had  sent  what  help  she  could  to  those  upon 
whom  the  horrors  of  the  war  had  fallen  most 
heavily.  In  the  Colonial  Records  this  entry  of 
services  rendered  by  Pasquotank  is  found  in  a 
letter  sent  by  Lieutenant  Woodhouse  and  Thomas 
Johnson  to  certain  "Gentlemen,  Friends,  and 
Neighbors,"  dated  October  3,  1712.  "Captain  Nor- 
ton, as  I  was  informed  by  Mrs.  Knight,  sailed  last 
week  from  Pasquotank  in  Major  Reed's  sloop, 
with  30  or  40  men,  provisions,  and  two  barrels  of 
gunpo\vder  and  ten  barrels,  I  think,  of  shot."  The 
destination  of  ship,  men  and  cargo  was  Bath,  the 
scene  of  the  most  disastrous  of  the  Indian  out- 
breaks. 

In  an  extract  from  a  "Book  of  the  Orders  and 
Judgments  and  Decrees  of  the  Hon.  Edward  Hyde, 
Esq.,  President  of  the  Council,"  mentioned  in  Dr. 
Hawk's  History  of  North  Carolina,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing entry :  "Ordered  that  Capt.  Edward  Allard 
shall  depart  with  his  sloop  "Core  Sound  Mer- 


75 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

chant"  to  Pasquotank  River,  and  there  take  from 
on  board  the  "Return,"  Mr.  Charles  Worth  Glover, 
so  much  corn  as  will  load  his  sloop,  give  to  Mr. 
Glover  a  receipt  for  the  same,  and  that  he  em- 
brace the  first  fair  wind  and  weather  to  go  to  Bath 
County  and  there  apply  himself  to  the  Hon.  John 
Barnewell,  Esq.,  and  follow  such  instructions  as 
he  shall  receive  from  him." 

Again,  in  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Giles  Rains- 
forth  to  "Jno.  Chamberlain,  Esq.,"  written  from 
"Chowan  in  North  Carolina  July  25,  1712,"  fur- 
ther mention  is  made  of  Pasquotank's  part  in  the 
Tuscarora  War:  "Col.  Boyde  was  the  other  day 
sent  out  with  a  party  against  the  Indians,  but  was 
unfortunately  shot  through  the  head  and  few  of 
his  men  came  home,  but  shared  his  fate  and  fell 
sacrifices  to  the  same  common  misfortune." 

It  has  been  charged  against  Pasquotank  that 
her  citizens  did  not  respond  to  the  call  for  volun- 
teers to  take  part  in  the  Tuscarora  War ;  and  it  is 
true  that  the  Quakers  in  the  county  did  enjoin 
upon  their  brethren  that  they  should  not  bear 
arms  in  this  or  any  other  disturbance.  It  is 
also  true  that  a  number  of  the  citizens  in  the 
county  did  obey  this  injunction;  and  when  the 
war  was  over  we  find  that  certain  members  of  the 
Friends'  meeting  were  brought  to  trial  by  the 
courts  "for  not  going  out  in  ye  Indian  Wars." 


76 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

But  enough  instances  have  been  recorded  to  show 
that  our  county  did  take  an  active  part  in  break- 
ing the  power  of  the  Tuscaroras  and  in  driving 
them  from  the  State. 

In  1715,  when  South  Carolina  in  her  turn  under- 
went the  horrors  of  an  Indian  war,  and  appealed 
to  North  Carolina  for  aid,  we  find  that  men  from 
Pasquotank  joined  with  other  forces  from  the 
colony  in  response  to  this  appeal.  Captain  John 
Pailin  and  Captain  John  Norton,  both  of  Pasquo- 
tank, are  ordered  "to  draw  out  their  companies 
and  go  to  the  assistance  of  South  Carolina  in  the 
Yamassie  War."  And  furthermore  the  command 
reads:  "If  men  refuse,  each  captain  is  ordered  to 
draft  ten  men  who  have  small  families  or  none, 
and  to  put  them  under  Captain  Hastins."  That 
drafting  was  not  resorted  to,  and  that  the  men 
went  willingly  to  the  aid  of  their  brethren  in  South 
Carolina,  who  rendered  the  northern  colony  such 
generous  assistance  in  the  Tuscarora  War,  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  fifty  men  were  raised  by 
the  two  captains,  and  cheerfully  marched  to  the 
front  along  with  the  bands  of  militia  from  the 
neighboring  counties. 

So  in  these  earliest  trials  of  the  military  courage 
of  her  citizens,  the  county  proved  that  she  could 
and  would  take  a  worthy  part. 


77 


CHAPTER  X 

PASQUOTANK  IN  COLONIAL  WARS — "THE  WAR  OF 
JENKINS'  EAR" 

AFTER  the  war  with  the  Tuscaroras  was 
over,  and  most  of  that  powerful  tribe  had 
left  the  State,  going  to  New  York  and 
becoming  the  sixth  of  the  tribes  there  called  "The 
Six  Nations,"  for  many  years  there  were  no 
pitched  battles  between  the  red  men  and  the  set- 
tlers in  North  Carolina. 

But  the  troubles  with  the  Indians  did  not  end 
with  the  Tuscarora  War;  for  though  a  treaty 
was  made  in  1713  with  Tom  Blount,  king  of  the 
Tuscaroras,  who  remained  in  the  State,  whereby 
the  Indians  bound  themselves  to  keep  the  peace, 
yet,  as  late  as  1718  the  colonists  were  still  putting 
troops  in  the  field  to  "catch  or  kill  the  enemy  In- 
dians." Indeed  the  settlers  in  Albemarle  suffered 
as  much  from  the  Indians  after  the  Tuscaroras 
left  the  State  as  they  did  during  the  days  of  the 
Indian  massacre  of  1711,  and  of  the  open  warfare 
that  followed. 

In  1714  another  Indian  outbreak  occurred,  and 
the  alarm  was  so  great  that  many  of  the  settlers 
in  the  Albemarle  region  determined  to  flee  to  Vir- 
ginia, where  the  government  seemed  better  able  to 


78 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

protect  its  citizens  than  were  the  officials  of  North 
Carolina. 

To  prevent  such  an  immigration  from  the  col- 
ony, Governor  Eden,  who  had  succeeded  Edward 
Hyde,  issued  a  proclamation  forbidding  the  people 
to  leave  the  colony;  and  Governor  Spotswood,  of 
Virginia,  gave  orders  to  arrest  any  Carolinians 
who  should  flee  into  his  colony  without  a  passport 
from  duly  authorized  officials  in  Carolina. 

But  as  the  years  passed  on,  the  Indian  troubles 
gradually  ceased,  and  the  red  men  mostly  disap- 
peared from  the  eastern  portion  of  the  State, 
though  as  late  as  1731  Dr.  Brickwell  speaks  of 
finding  there  "a  nation  called  the  Pasquotanks, 
who  kept  cattle  and  made  butter,  but  at  present 
have  not  cattle." 

With  the  dangers  from  the  Indians  over,  and 
with  the  transfer  of  Carolina  from  the  hands  of 
the  neglectful  Lords  Proprietors  into  the  posses- 
sion of  King  George  II,  brighter  and  more  pros- 
perous days  began  to  dawn  for  North  Carolina. 
The  population  rapidly  increased;  and,  whereas, 
in  1717  there  were  only  2,000  persons  in  the 
colony,  by  1735  this  number  had  increased  to 
4,000.  Lively  wranglings  there  were  often  be- 
tween the  Royal  Governors  and  the  sturdy  and  in- 
dependent members  of  the  Grand  Assembly,  who 
resolutely  carried  out  their  purpose  to  preserve 


79 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

the  constitutional  rights  of  the  people  of  the 
province.  But  no  war  cloud  darkened  the  skies  for 
many  years  after  the  Indian  troubles  were  over. 

Not  until  1740  was  there  again  a  call  to  arms 
heard  in  North  Carolina;  then  trouble  arose  be- 
tween Spain  and  England,  and  the  colonists  in 
America  were  called  upon  to  aid  their  Sovereign, 
King  George  II,  in  his  war  against  the  haughty 
Don. 

The  real  cause  of  this  war  was  the  constant  vio- 
lation on  the  part  of  the  English  of  the  commer- 
cial laws  which  Spain  had  made  to  exclude  foreign 
nations  from  the  trade  of  her  American  colonies. 
But  the  event  which  precipitated  matters  and  gave 
to  the  conflict  which  followed  the  name  of  "The 
War  of  Jenkins'  Ear,"  was  as  follows: 

The  Spanish  captured  an  English  merchant  ves- 
sel, whose  master  they  accused  of  violating  the 
trade  laws  of  Spain.  In  order  to  wring  a  confes- 
sion from  the  master,  Captain  Jenkins,  his  captors 
hung  him  up  to  the  yard  arms  of  his  ship  until  he 
was  nearly  dead,  and  then  let  him  down,  thinking 
he  would  confess.  But  on  his  stoutly  denying  that 
he  had  been  engaged  in  any  nefarious  dealings, 
and  since  no  proof  could  be  found  against  him, 
the  captain  of  the  Spanish  ship  cut  off  one  of  the 
English  captain's  ears,  and  insolently  told  him  to 
show  it  to  his  countrymen  as  a  warning  of  what 


80 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Englishmen  might  expect  who  were  caught  trad- 
ing with  Spain's  colonies  in  America. 

Captain  Jenkins  put  the  ear  in  his  pocket,  sailed 
home  as  fast  as  wind  and  wave  would  carry  him, 
and  was  taken  straight  to  the  House  of  Parliament 
with  his  story.  Such  was  the  indignation  of  both 
Lords  and  Commons  at  this  insult  to  one  of  their 
nation,  and  so  loud  was  the  clamor  for  vengeance, 
that  even  Walpole,  who  for  years  had  managed  to 
hold  the  English  dogs  of  war  in  leash,  was  now 
compelled  to  yield  to  the  will  of  the  people,  and 
Parliament  declared  war  with  Spain. 

Immediately  upon  this  declaration,  King  George 
called  upon  his  "trusty  and  well  beloved  subjects 
in  Carolina"  and  the  other  twelve  colonies,  to 
raise  troops  to  help  the  mother  country  in  her 
struggle  with  arrogant  Spain.  Carolina  responded 
nobly  to  the  call  for  troops,  as  the  following  ex- 
tract from  a  letter  from  Governor  Gabriel  Johns- 
ton to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  will  testify:  "I  can 
now  assure  your  grace  that  we  have  raised  400 
men  in  this  province  who  are  just  going  to  put  to 
sea.  In  those  Northern  Parts  of  the  Colony  ad- 
joining to  Virginia,  we  have  got  100  men  each, 
though  some  few  deserted  since  they  began  to  send 
them  on  board  the  transports  at  Cape  Fear.  I  have 
good  reason  to  believe  we  could  have  raised  200 
more  if  it  had  been  possible  to  negotiate  the  Bills 


81 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

of  Exchange  in  this  part  of  the  Continent ;  but  as 
that  was  impossible  we  were  obliged  to  rest  satis- 
fied with  four  companies.  I  must  in  justice  to  the 
assembly  of  the  Province  inform  Your  Grace  that 
they  were  very  zealous  and  unanimous  in  promot- 
ing this  service.  They  have  raised  a  subsidy  of 
1200  pounds  as  it  is  reckoned  hereby  on  which  the 
men  have  subsisted  ever  since  August,  and  all  the 
Transports  are  victualed." 

While  no  mention  is  made  of  Pasquotank  in  this 
war,  nor  of  men  from  any  other  county  save  New 
Hanover,  we  may  reasonably  infer  that  among 
the  three  hundred  troops  from  the  northern  coun- 
ties adjoining  Virginia,  men  from  our  own  county 
were  included.  No  record  has  been  kept  of  the 
names  of  the  privates  who  enlisted  from  Carolina 
in  this  war.  Nor  do  we  know  how  many  of  those 
who  at  the  king's  call  left  home  and  country  to 
fight  a  foreign  land  ever  returned  to  their  native 
shores ;  but  we  do  know  that  these  Carolina  troops 
took  part  in  the  disastrous  engagements  of  Carta- 
gena and  Boca-Chica ;  and  that  King  George's 
troops  saw  fulfilled  Walpole's  prophecy  made  at 
the  time  of  the  rejoicing  over  the  news  that  Par- 
liament had  declared  war  with  Spain :  "You  are 
ringing  the  joy  bells  now,"  said  the  great  Prime 
Minister,  "but  before  this  war  is  over  you  will  all 
be  wringing  your  hands !" 


82 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

After  the  two  crushing  defeats  of  Cartagena 
and  Boca  Chica,  the  troops  from  the  colonies  who 
still  survived  embarked  upon  their  ships  to  return 
home;  but  while  homeward  bound  a  malignant 
fever  broke  out  among  the  soldiers  which  de- 
stroyed nine  out  of  every  ten  men  on  the  ships. 
But  few  of  those  from  Carolina  lived  to  see  their 
native  home  again.  That  they  bore  themselves 
bravely  on  the  field  of  battle,  none  who  know  the 
war  record  of  North  Carolina  will  dare  deny; 
though  as  regards  her  private  soldiers  in  this  war, 
history  is  silent. 

One  of  the  officers  from  Carolina,  Captain  Innes, 
of  Wilmington,  made  such  a  record  for  gallantry 
during  the  two  engagements  mentioned,  that  in 
the  French  and  Indian  War,  in  which  fourteen 
years  later,  not  only  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  but 
most  of  the  countries  of  Europe  as  well,  were 
embroiled,  he  was  made  commander-in-chief  of 
all  the  American  forces,  George  Washington  him- 
self gladly  serving  under  this  distinguished  Caro- 
linian. 


83 


CHAPTER  XI 

A  SOLDIER  OF  THE  REVOLUTION — THE   STORY   OF   A 

PASQUOTANK   BOY  WHO   FOLLOWED 

WASHINGTON 

IT  IS  a  well  known  fact  that  the  records  of  the 
services  of  the  North  Carolina  soldiers  who 
took  part  in  the  Revolutionary  War  are  very 
meagre.  Of  the  private,  and  other  officers  of  lesser 
rank,  this  is  especially  true.  Therefore,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  a  search  through  the  Colonial 
Records  for  a  statement  of  the  services  rendered 
his  country  by  John  Koen,  a  brave  soldier  of  the 
Revolution  from  Pasquotank  County,  reveals  only 
this  fact:  that  he  enlisted  in  Moore's  Company, 
Tenth  Regiment,  on  May  30,  1777,  and  served  for 
three  years. 

But  in  addition  to  the  above  information,  the 
following  incidents  in  the  life  of  John  Koen  have 
been  furnished  the  writer  of  this  history  by  Mrs. 
Margaret  Temple,  formerly  of  Rosedale,  now  a 
resident  of  Elizabeth  City. 

Mrs.  Temple  is  a  granddaughter  of  Colonel 
Koen,  the  widow  of  William  S.  Temple,  a  brave 
Confederate  soldier  from  Pasquotank,  and  the 
mother  of  two  of  our  former  townsmen,  Hon. 
Oscar  Temple,  of  Denver,  Colorado,  and  Robert 
Temple,  of  New  Orleans. 


84 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Mrs.  Temple  was  about  twelve  years  old  at  the 
time  of  Colonel  Koen's  death,  and  retains  a  very 
vivid  recollection  of  the  stirring  stories  of  the 
Revolution  told  by  her  grandfather  during  the 
long  winter  evenings,  when  the  family  gathered 
around  the  big  fire-place  in  the  old  Koen  home- 
stead near  Rosedale. 

A  record  copied  from  the  Koen  family  Bible 
states  that  John  Koen,  son  of  Daniel  Koen  and 
Grace  Koen,  his  wife,  was  born  on  the  27th  day 
of  January,  1759 ;  and  years  later  this  record  was 
entered:  "John  Koen,  departed  this  life  Septem- 
ber 5th,  1840,  aged  83  yrs." 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  entered  his  country's 
service  as  a  volunteer,  and  served  through  the 
Revolution,  participating  in  many  of  the  greatest 
victories  won  by  the  Americans,  sharing  the  worst 
hardships  of  the  war  with  his  fellow  patriots,  and 
laying  down  his  arms  only  after  Cornwallis  had 
surrendered  his  sword  at  Yorktown. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  winter  of  1775-1776, 
North  Carolina  was  confronting  the  most  perilous 
conditions  which  she  had  ever  been  called  to  face. 
From  the  north,  east  and  west,  the  foe  was  press- 
ing, while  within  her  own  borders  the  Tories  were 
rising,  and  planning  to  join  the  British  in  the  sub- 
jection of  this  rebellious  state. 


85 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

The  plan  formulated  by  the  enemy  was  this: 
Sir  Henry  Clinton,  with  troops  of  British  regulars, 
was  to  come  down  the  coast  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Cape  Fear  River,  where  Lord  Cornwallis,  who 
with  seven  regiments  from  England  was  hastening 
across  the  Atlantic,  was  to  join  him.  Lord  Dun- 
more,  Royal  Governor  of  Virginia,  was  to  incite 
the  slaves  and  indentured  servants  in  the  Albe- 
marle  district  to  unite  with  the  Tories  in  the 
State;  and  the  Indians  in  the  western  counties 
were  to  be  induced  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
whites. 

If  these  plans  had  matured,  North  Carolina 
would  have  been  overpowered,  but  one  by  one  they 
were  frustrated.  The  battle  of  Great  Bridge  de- 
feated Dunmore  in  his  purpose.  The  Snow  Cam- 
paign quieted  the  Indian  uprising.  The  battle  of 
Moore's  Creek  Bridge  crushed  the  Tories,  and  the 
heavy  winter  storms  delayed  Cornwallis  and  pre- 
vented him  from  joining  Clinton  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Cape  Fear. 

When  Lord  Dunmore  issued  his  proclamation 
offering  freedom  to  the  slaves  and  indentured  ser- 
vants who  should  join  his  majesty's  forces,  and 
then  followed  up  this  notice  by  burning  and  rav- 
aging the  plantations  around  Norfolk,  Virginia, 
called  upon  her  sister  State  for  help,  and  Long  and 
Sumner,  from  Halifax,  and  Warren,  Skinner  and 


86 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Dauge  from  Perquimans  and  Pasquotank  counties, 
hastened  with  their  minute  men  and  volunteers  to 
Great  Bridge,  where  Colonel  Woodford  in  com- 
mand of  the  Virginia  troops,  had  thrown  up  forti- 
fications. 

Among  the  volunteers  who  were  hastening  to 
the  scene  of  action  was  John  Koen,  of  Pasquotank, 
a  boy  in  years,  but  a  man  in  purpose  and  resolu- 
tion. 

On  December  9,  1775,  the  British  attacked  the 
fortifications,  and  the  sound  of  heavy  firing  at 
Great  Bridge,  the  first  battle  in  which  the  men  of 
the  Albemarle  section  had  been  called  to  partici- 
pate, was  heard  by  the  dwellers  in  the  counties 
nearest  Norfolk. 

The  story  is  still  told  by  old  residents  of  Rose- 
dale,  that  John  Koen's  mother,  who  was  washing 
the  breakfast  dishes  when  the  firing  began,  hear- 
ing the  first  heavy  reverberations  from  the  can- 
non some  thirty  miles  away,  dropped  the  dish  she 
was  wiping,  and  in  her  motherly  anxiety  for  the 
safety  of  her  boy,  cried  out,  "Dodge,  John,  dodge !" 

Whether  John  dodged  or  not  we  do  not  know, 
but  we  do  know  that  he  bore  his  part  manfully  in 
this,  his  first  battle,  and  shared  in  the  victory 
which  drove  Dunmore  from  Virginia,  and  saved 
North  Carolina  from  invasion  from  that  direc- 
tion, and  a  threatened  uprising  of  the  slaves. 


87 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

On  February  26,  1776,  the  battle  of  Moore's 
Creek  Bridge  was  fought,  which  defeated  the 
Tories  in  Carolina,  and  convinced  the  British  that 
further  attempts  at  this  time  to  conquer  the  State 
were  useless.  So,  toward  the  end  of  May,  Clinton's 
fleet  sailed  from  the  mouth  of  Cape  Fear  River  to 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  where  his  intention 
was  to  reduce  that  city. 

Generals  Charles  Lee  and  Robert  Howe,  of  the 
Continental  army,  hastened  immediately  to  the  de- 
fense of  that  city,  and  among  the  soldiers  who  fol- 
lowed them  was  John  Koen.  Here  again  the 
British  were  defeated,  Colonel  Moultrie's  Palmetto 
fortifications  proving  an  effective  defense  to  the 
city  by  the  sea,  and  Thompson's  South  Carolinians 
and  North  Carolinians  bravely  repelling  the 
British  land  troops.  Here  Koen  fought  by  the 
side  of  the  soldiers  of  North  Carolina,  and  here, 
possibly,  he  was  an  eye  witness  of  the  brave  deed 
by  which  Sergeant  Jasper  won  undying  fame. 

The  British  fleet,  repulsed  in  the  attempt  to  cap- 
ture Charleston,  sailed  northward,  the  danger  of 
invasion  that  for  six  months  threatened  the  South 
was  over,  and  we  find  many  of  the  soldiers  in 
North  Carolina  released  from  duty  and  returning 
to  their  homes. 

But  John  Koen's  heart  was  filled  with  boyish 
love  and  admiration  for  the  commander-in-chief 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

of  the  American  army,  and  his  one  desire  now 
was  to  follow  Washington;  so,  shouldering  his 
musket,  the  hardy  young  soldier  marched  away  to 
offer  his  services  to  the  great  general. 

We  do  not  know  whether  or  not  John  Koen  was 
with  Washington  in  the  battle  at  Long  Island  and 
at  White  Plains,  but  from  his  own  account  as  re- 
lated by  him  to  his  family,  he  did  have  the  glorious 
honor  of  sharing  in  the  victory  at  Trenton  on  De- 
cember 26,  1776. 

Most  of  us  are  familiar  with  the  picture  of 
"Washington  Crossing  the  Delaware,"  wherein  he 
is  represented  standing  erect  in  a  small  boat  that 
seems  about  to  be  dashed  to  pieces  by  the  heavy 
waves  and  the  cakes  of  ice,  but  according  to  Col- 
onel Koen,  who  was  with  Washington  on  that 
momentous  night,  no  boats  were  used.  The  river 
was  frozen  over,  .and  the  soldiers,  in  order  to 
keep  their  footing  on  the  slippery  ice,  laid  their 
muskets  down  on  the  frozen  river  and  walked 
across  on  them  to  the  Jersey  shore.  At  times 
the  ice  bent  so  beneath  the  tread  of  the  men 
that  they  momentarily  expected  to  be  submerged 
in  the  dark  waters,  but  the  dangerous  crossing 
was  safely  made,  the  British  and  Hessian  troops, 
spending  the  holiday  hours  in  feasting  and  carous- 
ing at  Trenton,  were  captured,  and  a  great  victory 
won  for  the  American  army. 


89 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Some  time  in  the  spring  of  1777,  John  Koen 
must  have  returned  to  his  home  in  Pasquotank 
County,  for  we  find  in  the  Colonial  Records  that 
in  the  month  of  May,  1777,  he  enlisted  in  Moore's 
Company,  Tenth  Regiment,  from  North  Carolina, 
and  that  in  June  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
corporal. 

According  to  the  fireside  tales  told  by  Colonel 
Koen  to  the  household  in  the  old  Koen  homestead, 
this  young  soldier,  then  only  twenty  years  old,  was 
with  Gates'  army,  that,  under  the  valiant  leader- 
ship of  Morgan  and  Arnold,  won  for  the  newly 
born  nation  the  great  victory  of  Saratoga;  and 
the  winter  of  that  same  year — '77 — we  find  him 
sharing  with  Washington's  army  the  trials  and 
privations  of  the  days  of  suffering  at  Valley  Forge. 

"I  have  seen  the  tears  trickling  down  my  grand- 
father's face  when  he  told  of  the  sufferings  of  that 
awful  winter,"  said  his  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Tem- 
ple to  the  writer,  "and  I  used  to  wonder  at  seeing 
a  grown  man  cry,  and  often  I  said  in  my  childish 
way  that  war  should  never  bring  a  tear  in  my 
eyes.  Little  did  I  know  then  that  the  bitterest 
tears  I  should  ever  shed  would  be  caused  by  war, 
and  for  eighteen  months  during  the  terrible  strug- 
gle between  the  North  and  the  South  I  should 
mourn  as  dead  my  soldier  husband,  whom  God  in 


90 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

His  mercy  restored  to  me  after  all  hope  of  seeing 
him  alive  again  was  over." 

Although  the  Colonial  Records  state  that  Koen 
enlisted  for  only  three  years  in  May,  1777,  he  must 
have  re-enlisted  in  1780,  for  he  has  left  with  his 
family  a  graphic  description  of  General  Lincoln's 
surrender  of  Charleston  in  that  year,  and  of  the 
horrible  treatment  to  which  the  Continental 
troops  were  subjected,  who  found  themselves  pris- 
oners of  the  victorious  British  army. 

The  hot  climate,  the  wretched  condition  of  the 
prison  ships,  the  unwholesome  and  insufficient 
food,  made  these  days  of  imprisonment  at  Char- 
leston equal  in  horror  to  the  worst  days  at  Valley 
Forge.  Of  the  1,800  prisoners  who  were  taken 
captive  on  May  12,  1780,  only  700  survived  when 
they  were  paroled,  and  of  these  our  hero  was  one. 

In  what  other  battles  or  experiences  Colonel 
Koen  shared  we  have  no  record,  historical  or  tra- 
ditional, but  according  to  his  granddaughter's 
account,  learned  from  his  own  lips,  he  served  his 
country  until  the  victory  of  Yorktown  was  won 
and  peace  was  declared.  And  it  is  easy  to  believe 
that  this  gallant  soldier  who  was  one  of  the  first 
to  volunteer  at  'Great  Bridge,  and  who  fought  so 
bravely  in  many  of  the  sharpest  struggles  of  the 
great  conflict,  would  not  have  been  willing  to  lay 


91 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

down  his  arms  until  his  country  was  freed  from 
the  power  that  had  so  long  held  it  in  thrall. 

So  we  can  imagine  him  following  Greene  in  his 
retreat  across  the  State,  taking  part  in  the  battle 
of  Guilford  Courthouse,  and  possibly  present 
when  the  proud  Cornwallis  was  forced  to  surren- 
der at  Yorktown. 

When  the  struggle  at  last  had  ended,  John  Koen 
returned  to  his  home.  During  the  years  of  his 
absence  his  plantation  was  managed  by  William 
Temple,  whose  pretty  young  daughter,  Susannah, 
soon  won  the  heart  of  the  brave  soldier,  and  con- 
sented to  become  his  bride.  After  some  years  of 
happy  married  life,  the  young  wife  died,  and  a  few 
years  later  we  find  John  Koen  making  a  second 
marriage,  his  bride  being  Christian  Hollowell,  of 
Perquimans  County. 

Owing  to  his  gallant  conduct  in  the  Revolution- 
ary War,  John  Koen,  a  few  years  after  the  war 
was  over,  was  appointed  Colonel  of  the  militia  in 
Pasquotank  County,  and  the  government  awarded 
him  a  pension,  which  was  paid  until  his  death  in 
1840. 


92 


CHAPTER  XII 

GENERAL  ISAAC  GREGORY,  A  REVOLUTIONARY  OFFICER 
OF   PASQUOTANK-CAMDEN 

DURING  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  the  Albe- 
marle  Region,  though  threatened  with  in- 
vasion time  and  again  by  the  British,  sel- 
dom heard  the  tread  of  the  enemy's  army,  or  felt 
the  shock  of  battle.  For  this  immunity  from  the 
destruction  of  life  and  property,  such  as  the  citi- 
zens whose  homes  lay  in  the  path  of  Cornwallis 
and  Tarleton  suffered,  this  section  of  North  Caro- 
lina is  largely  indebted  to  General  Isaac  Gregory, 
one  of  the  bravest  officers  who  ever  drew  sword  in 
defense  of  his  native  home  and  country. 

Both  Pasquotank  and  Camden  claim  this  gallant 
officer  for  their  son,  and  both  have  a  right  to  that 
claim;  for  the  two  counties  were  one  until  1777. 
In  that  year  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  by  Joseph  Jones,  of  Pasquotank, 
from  citizens  living  in  what  is  now  Camden 
County,  that  the  portion  of  Pasquotank  lying  on 
the  northeast  bank  of  the  river  should  be  formed 
into  a  separate  county,  and  have  a  courthouse  of 
its  own,  in  order  to  do  away  with  the  inconven- 
ience the  people  of  that  section  suffered  in  having 
to  cross  the  river  to  attend  court,  military  drills 


93 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

and  other  public  gatherings.  The  General  As- 
sembly passed  an  act  providing  for  the  erection 
of  a  new  county,  and  this  county  was  named  for 
Charles  Pratt,  Earl  of  Camden,  a  member  of  Par- 
liament and  Chancellor,  who  in  the  stormy  days  of 
1765  worked  for  the  repeal  of  the  hated  Stamp 
Act,  and  justice  to  the  Colonies. 

Before  the  long  and  bloody  days  of  the  Revolu- 
tion proved  his  worth  as  a  soldier,  Isaac  Gregory 
had  won  a  prominent  place  in  the  public  affairs  of 
his  county.  His  name  first  occurs  in  the  Colonial 
Records  in  1773,  when  he  was  elected  sheriff  of 
Pasquotank.  In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  trustees  of  St.  Martin's  Chapel  in  In- 
dian Town,  Currituck  County,  a  settlement  whose 
citizens  were  many  of  them  to  become  honored  in 
the  civil  and  military  history  of  our  State. 

Ever  since  the  passing  of  the  Stamp  Act  in 
1765,  low  mutterings  of  the  storm  that  was  soon 
to  sweep  over  the  country  some  ten  years  later 
had  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies ; 
and  events  in  North  Carolina  showed  that  this 
colony  was  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  her 
American  sisters  in  their  endeavor  to  obtain  jus- 
tice from  England. 

In  1774,  John  Harvey's  trumpet  call  to  the  peo- 
ple of  North  Carolina  to  circumvent  Governor 
Martin's  attempt  to  deprive  them  of  representa- 


94 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

tion  in  the  Continental  Congress  at  Philadelphia, 
had  resulted  in  the  convention  at  New  Bern,  the 
first  meeting  in  America  at  which  the  represen- 
tatives of  a  colony  as  a  whole  had  ever  gathered 
in  direct  defiance  of  orders  from  a  Royal  Gov- 
ernor. 

The  next  year,  in  April,  Harvey  again  called  a 
convention  of  the  people  to  meet  in  New  Bern. 
Again  Governor  Martin  was  defied;  again,  the 
North  Carolinians,  taking  matters  into  their  own 
hands,  elected  delegates  to  Philadelphia,  and  be- 
fore adjourning,  added  Carolina's  name  to  the  as- 
sociation of  Colonies. 

Pasquotank  was  represented  in  this  convention 
by  Edward  Jones,  Joseph  Redding,  Edward  Everi- 
gen,  John  Hearing,  and  Isaac  Gregory.  The  last 
named,  being  by  now  an  acknowledged  leader  in 
his  county,  was  appointed  by  this  body  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Committee  of  Safety  in  the  Edenton 
District. 

The  path  toward  separation  from  the  mother 
country  was  now  being  rapidly  trod  by  the  Ameri- 
can colonies,  though  few,  as  yet,  realized  whither 
their  steps  were  tending.  In  the  vanguard  of  this 
march  toward  liberty  and  independence,  North 
Carolina  kept  a  conspicuous  place.  The  Edenton 
Tea  Party  in  October,  1774,  had  proved  the  mettle 
of  her  women.  The  farmers  of  Mecklenburg  had 


95 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

struck  the  first  chord  in  the  song  of  independence, 
hardly  a  note  of  which  had  been  sounded  by  the 
other  colonies.  Governor  Martin  had  fled  from 
New  Bern,  and  in  August,  1775,  the  Hillsboro  Con- 
vention had  organized  a  temporary  form  of  gov- 
ernment, and  had  placed  at  the  head  of  public 
affairs  Cornelius  Harnett,  who,  as  President  of  the 
Provincial  Council,  had  more  power  in  the  State 
than  is  generally  delegated  to  a  governor. 

In  December,  1775,  Lord  Dunmore's  attempted 
invasion  of  the  State  had  been  thwarted,  largely 
by  the  aid  of  the  Minute  Men  from  Albemarle. 
Then  came  the  famous  Snow  Campaign,  in  which 
the  militia  of  the  western  counties  joined  the  pa- 
triots of  South  Carolina  in  defeating  the  Tories  of 
that  State.  And  in  February,  1776,  the  important 
victory  at  Moore's  Creek  Bridge  had  completely 
for  a  time  broken  the  power  of  the  Loyalists  in 
North  Carolina.  There  was  no  longer  any  hope 
of  obtaining  justice  from  England,  nor,  after  such 
open  and  steady  rebellion  against  the  king's  offi- 
cers, civil  and  military,  could  there  be  any  hope  of 
conciliation  with  the  mother  country,  save  on 
terms  too  humiliating  to  even  contemplate. 

North  Carolina,  recognizing  these  facts,  called 
another  convention  to  meet  at  Halifax  in  April, 
1776,  and  there  sounded  her  defiance  as  a  State  to 
King  and  Parliament,  and  boldly  authorized  her 


96 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

delegates  to  the  next  Continental  Congress  at 
Philadelphia  to  vote  for  independence. 

The  convention  then  proceeded  to  make  further 
preparations  for  the  war  which  all  now  felt  was 
inevitable.  Pasquotank,  in  response  to  the  call 
immediately  issued  for  more  troops,  raised  two 
regiments  of  militia.  Isaac  Gregory,  who  had 
been  appointed  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  Pasquo- 
tank Militia  by  the  Convention  of  1775,  was  pro- 
moted and  made  Colonel  of  the  Second  Regiment 
of  Pasquotank  Militia,  the  other  officers  being 
Dempsey  Burgess,  Lieutenant  -  Colonel,  Joshua 
Campbell,  Major,  and  Peter  Dauge,  Second  Major. 

Independence  having  been  declared  by  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  of  1776,  the  thirteen  Colonies, 
now  independent  States,  proceeded  to  organize  a 
permanent  government  within  their  several  bor- 
ders. 

In  North  Carolina  a  State  convention  was  called 
to  meet  at  Halifax  in  November,  1776,  to  frame  a 
constitution  for  the  government  of  that  State.  To 
this  convention  Isaac  Gregory,  Henry  Abbott,  De- 
votion Davis,  Dempsey  Burgess  and  Lemuel  Bur- 
gess were  elected  to  represent  Pasquotank,  and 
Abbott  was  appointed  on  the  committee  to  frame 
the  constitution.  By  the  18th  of  December  the 
work  was  completed  and  the  constitution  adopted, 


97 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

which,  with  amendments,  is  still  the  organic  law 
of  the  State. 

After  Clinton's  unsuccessful  attempt  to  invade 
North  Carolina  in  May,  1776,  no  further  effort  to 
place  the  State  under  British  control  was  made 
until  1780.  But  during  the  intervening  years  the 
Carolina  troops  had  not  been  idle.  Their  valor 
had  been  proved  at  Brandywine,  Germantown  and 
Stony  Point,  and  during  the  winter  at  Valley 
Forge  1,450  of  her  soldiers  shared  with  their  com- 
rades from  the  other  States  the  hunger,  cold  and 
suffering  that  was  the  portion  of  Washington's 
army  throughout  those  dreary  months.  The  North 
Carolina  troops  had  aided  in  the  brave  but  unsuc- 
cessful attempt  to  drive  the  British  from  Savan- 
nah, and  5,000  of  her  soldiers  had  been  sent  to 
prevent  the  capture  of  Charleston ;  but  the  patriot 
forces  had  been  unable  to  repulse  the  invaders. 
Savannah  fell,  then  Charleston,  and  by  the  last  of 
May,  1780,  both  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  were 
in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  Cornwallis  was 
threatening  North  Carolina. 

So  great  was  the  blow  to  the  American  cause 
from  the  loss  of  these  Southern  States,  and  so 
great  the  danger  confronting  North  Carolina,  that 
Congress  ordered  DeKalb,  of  the  Continental  line 
with  the  regulars  from  Maryland  and  Delaware  to 
march  to  the  rescue  of  the  patriots  in  the  South. 


98 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

General  Gates,  the  reputed  victor  at  Saratoga, 
was  also  ordered  South,  and  put  in  command  of 
the  Southern  forces. 

For  awhile  the  enemy  remained  quiet,  Cornwal- 
lis  delaying  the  devastation  of  South  Carolina 
until  the  maturing  crops  should  be  safe.  This 
respite  gave  the  Carolinians  time  to  collect  their 
forces  on  the  South  Carolina  border,  in  order  to 
drive  back  the  enemy. 

Isaac  Gregory,  who  in  May,  1779,  had  been  pro- 
moted to  the  office  of  Brigadier-General  of  the 
Edenton  District,  on  the  resignation  of  John  Pugh 
Williams,  was  ordered  to  join  General  Caswell  in 
South  Carolina.  As  soon  as  he  could  collect  his 
men,  Gregory  marched  towards  the  Piedmont  sec- 
tion, on  his  way  to  Caswell's  army;  and  by  June 
he  was  with  Rutherford's  Brigade  at  Yadkin's 
Ford  in  Rowan.  Near  this  place  the  Tories  had 
collected,  some  800  strong ;  and  Rutherford  hoped, 
with  Gregory's  aid,  to  crush  them.  But  to  his  dis- 
appointment, no  opportunity  was  given,  for  Gen- 
eral Bryan,  the  Tory  leader,  hearing  of  the  defeat 
of  the  Loyalists  at  Ramseur's  Mill  a  few  days  be- 
fore, crossed  the  Yadkin  and  united  with  General 
MacArthur,  whom  Cornwallis  had  sent  to  Anson 
County. 

By  July  31  Gregory's  men,  with  Rutherford  and 
his  brigade,  were  with  General  Caswell  at  The 


99 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Cheraws,  just  across  the  South  Carolina  border. 
For  several  weeks  there  was  much  suffering 
among  the  men  on  account  of  the  lack  of  food,  for 
though  corn  was  plentiful,  the  rivers  were  so  high 
that  the  mills  could  not  grind  the  meal. 

Lord  Rawdon's  army  was  stationed  near  Cam- 
den,  South  Carolina,  and  Gates,  who  had  joined 
Caswell  on  August  17,  having  learned  that  the 
British  general  was  daily  expecting  a  supply  of 
food  and  stores  for  his  men,  determined  to  inter- 
cept the  convoy  and  capture  the  supplies  for  his 
own  army.  In  the  meantime  Cornwallis,  unknown 
to  Gates,  had  joined  Lord  Rawdon.  Gates,  igno- 
rant of  this  reinforcement  of  Cornwallis'  troops, 
marched  leisurely  towards  Camden  to  capture  the 
coveted  stores. 

The  result  of  the  battle  that  followed  is  known 
only  too  well.  The  American  militia,  panic- 
stricken  at  the  furious  onslaught  of  the  enemy, 
threw  down  their  arms  and  fled.  General  Gates, 
after  a  vain  attempt  to  rally  his  troops,  lost  cour- 
age, and  abandoning  his  forces  and  his  stores, 
brought  everlasting  disgrace  upon  his  name  by 
fleeing  in  hot  haste  from  the  field. 

But  the  cowardly  conduct  of  Gates  and  several 
of  the  other  officers  of  the  American  army,  as  well 
as  many  of  the  militia,  in  this  disastrous  battle, 
was  offset  by  the  heroism  and  courage  of  others ; 

100 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

and  among  those  who  won  undying  fame  on  that 
fatal  field,  none  is  more  worthy  of  praise  than 
General  Gregory. 

Roger  Lamb,  a  British  officer,  writing  an  ac- 
count of  the  battle,  and  speaking  of  the  disgrace- 
ful conduct  of  those  officers  and  men  whose  flight 
from  the  field  brought  shame  upon  the  American 
army,  gives  this  account  of  Isaac  Gregory's  he- 
roic struggle  to  withstand  the  enemy  at  this 
bloody  field:  "In  justice  to  North  Carolina,  it 
should  be  remarked  that  General  Gregory's  bri- 
gade acquitted  themselves  well.  They  formed  on 
the  left  of  the  Continentals,  and  kept  the  field 
while  they  had  a  cartridge  left.  Gregory  himself 
was  twice  wounded  by  bayonets  in  bringing  off  his 
men,  and  many  in  his  brigade  had  only  bayonet 
wounds." 

As  to  fight  hand  to  hand  with  bayonets  requires 
far  more  courage  than  to  stand  at  a  distance  and 
fire  a  musket,  this  account  of  Gregory  and  his 
troops  proves  the  bravery  with  which  they  fought 
during  those  terrible  hours.  General  Gregory's 
horse  was  shot  from  under  him  while  the  battle 
was  raging;  and  seeing  him  fall,  so  sure  was  the 
enemy  of  his  death  that  Cornwallis  in  his  official 
report  of  the  battle,  gave  in  his  name  in  the  list  of 
the  American  officers  killed  on  the  field. 

Two  days  after  the  battle  of  Camden,  the  pa- 


101 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

triots,  Shelby,  Clarke  and  Williams,  defeated  a 
band  of  Tories  at  Musgrove's  Mill  in  South  Caro- 
lina ;  but  hearing  of  the  disaster  at  Camden,  these 
officers  now  withdrew  from  the  State.  Sumter's 
corps,  near  Rocky  Mount,  had  been  put  to  flight 
by  Tarleton,  Gates  had  fled  the  State,  and  only 
Davie's  men  were  left  between  the  army  of  Corn- 
wallis  and  Charlotte,  North  Carolina. 

Had  the  British  General  pressed  on  into  the 
State,  North  Carolina  must  have  inevitably  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  But  Cornwallis  de- 
layed the  invasion  for  nearly  a  month,  thus  giving 
the  Carolinians  time  to  collect  their  forces  to  repel 
his  attempt. 

The  General  Assembly  which  met  in  Septem- 
ber, 1780,  acting  upon  Governor  Nash's  advice, 
created  a  Board  of  War  to  assist  him  in  conduct- 
ing the  military  affairs  of  the  State.  This  board 
now  proceeded  to  put  General  Smallwood,  of 
Maryland,  in  command  of  all  the  forces  in  the 
State,  giving  him  authority  over  all  the  officers  in 
the  Southern  army,  the  honor  being  conferred 
upon  him  on  account  of  his  gallant  conduct  at 
Camden.  General  Gregory  was  consequently 
ordered  to  hold  himself  in  readiness  to  obey  Gen- 
eral Smallwood's  orders,  with  the  other  officers  in 
North  Carolina. 

The   Board   of   War   then   proceeded   to   raise 


102 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

money,  arms  and  men  for  the  army  that  would 
soon  be  called  upon  to  drive  Cornwallis  from  the 
State.  Gregory's  brigade  received  $25,000  of  the 
funds  raised,  and  150  flints  and  15  guns  were  dis- 
tributed among  his  soldiers. 

The  British  now  confidently  expected  that  Corn- 
wallis would  quickly  subdue  North  Carolina,  then 
sweep  over  the  State  into  Virginia.  In  order  to 
prevent  the  Americans  from  hurrying  into  that 
State  to  join  forces  against  Cornwallis,  General 
Leslie  was  ordered  from  New  York  to  the  Chesa- 
peake, and  in  October  his  army  was  stationed  near 
South  Quays  in  Virginia,  not  far  from  Norfolk. 

The  presence  of  Leslie's  army  so  close  to  the 
Carolina  border  caused  much  alarm  for  the  safety 
of  the  Albemarle  section,  which  for  the  second 
time  was  in  danger  of  invasion.  General  Gregory, 
who  after  the  battle  of  Camden  had  joined  Exum 
and  Jarvis  in  front  of  Cornwallis,  had  recently 
returned  to  Albemarle.  He  was  now  ordered  to 
take  the  field  against  Leslie,  and  to  prevent  him 
from  entering  the  State.  From  his  camp  at  Great 
Swamp,  near  North  River,  he  wrote  to  Governor 
Nash  in  November,  1780,  reporting  the  repulse  of 
the  enemy.  He  also  warned  the  Governor  that  the 
British  were  planning  to  attack  Edenton ;  and  he 
set  forth  in  his  letter  the  blow  that  the  capture  of 
this  town  would  be  to  the  commerce  of  the  State. 


103 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

General  Gregory's  post  at  Great  Swamp  was 
no  sinecure.  He  had  only  about  100  men  to 
withstand  Leslie,  whose  forces  at  Portsmouth 
amounted  to  nearly  1,000  men.  His  troops  were 
poorly  equipped,  half  naked,  and  ill-fed;  and  his 
situation  seemed  almost  desperate.  To  add  to  his 
troubles,  an  attempt  was  made  at  this  time  by 
Colonel  Blount,  of  the  Edenton  District,  to  de- 
prive him  of  his  command.  But  a  Council  of  State, 
held  at  Camp  Norfleet  Mills  to  inquire  into  the 
matter,  declared  that  as  Colonel  Blount  had  re- 
signed of  his  own  free  will  and  accord — in  favor 
of  Gregory — he  should  not  now  take  the  command 
from  him. 

In  spite  of  the  troubles  and  perplexities  that 
beset  Gregory  in  the  fall  of  1780,  he  bravely  held 
his  ground ;  and  by  the  end  of  November  he  wrote 
Governor  Nash  from  his  camp  at  North  West  that 
the  British  had  abandoned  Portsmouth,  and  had 
departed  for  parts  unknown. 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  in  the 
East,  Cornwallis,  whose  left  wing  under  Ferguson 
had  suffered  a  crushing  defeat  at  King's  Moun- 
tain, disappointed  at  the  humbling  of  the  Tories  at 
that  battle,  had  left  North  Carolina  on  October 
12th,  and  returned  to  South  Carolina.  The  heavy 
rains  encountered  by  his  army  on  his  retreat 
caused  much  sickness  among  his  men ;  and  him- 


104 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

self  falling  ill,  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  com- 
mand temporarily  to  Lord  Rawdon. 

General  Leslie's  destination  soon  became  known. 
On  November  23  he  had  abandoned  the  vicinity 
of  Norfolk,  and  had  sailed  to  Wilmington,  N.  C., 
hoping  to  rouse  the  Tories  in  that  section;  but 
Lord  Rawdon's  army  being  now  in  great  danger, 
Leslie  was  ordered  to  his  assistance,  and  he 
accordingly  set  out  for  the  British  army  near 
Camden.  But  Southern  Virginia  and  the  Albe- 
marle  region  were  not  long  to  be  free  from 
the  fear  of  invasion,  for  soon  another  British 
army  under  the  command  of  the  traitor,  Benedict 
Arnold,  sailed  into  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  Gregory 
was  again  sent  to  keep  the  enemy  in  check. 

During  this  campaign  a  serious  charge  was 
brought  against  Gregory,  which,  though  soon 
proved  to  be  wholly  unfounded,  caused  the  gallant 
officer  life-long  mortification  and  distress.  The 
circumstances  of  this  unfortunate  occurrence  were 
as  follows : 

Captain  Stevens,  a  British  officer  in  Arnold's 
corps,  while  sitting  idly  by  his  fire  one  night,  "just 
for  a  joke,"  as  he  afterwards  explained,  wrote  two 
notes  to  General  Gregory,  which  he  intended  to 
destroy,  as  they  were  simply  the  product  of  his 
own  imagination,  and  were  never  intended  to  go 
out  of  his  hands. 


105 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

In  some  unknown  way  these  papers  came  into 
the  hands  of  an  American  officer,  who,  deeming 
from  their  contents  that  Gregory  was  a  traitor, 
carried  them  to  headquarters.  Their  purport 
being  made  public,  even  Gregory's  most  loyal 
friends  began  to  look  upon  him  with  suspicion  and 
distrust. 

The  first  of  these  two  notes  was  as  follows : 

"General  Gregory: 

"Your  well-formed  plans  of  delivering  into  the 
hands  of  the  British  these  people  now  in  your 
command,  gives  me  much  pleasure.  Your  next,  I 
hope,  will  mention  place  of  ambuscade,  and  man- 
ner you  wish  to  fall  into  my  hands." 

The  second  note  was  equally  incriminating: 

"General  Gregory: 

"A  Mr.  Ventriss  was  last  night  made  prisoner 
by  three  or  four  of  your  people.  I  only  wish  to 
inform  you  that  Ventriss  could  not  help  doing 
what  he  did  in  helping  to  destroy  the  logs.  I  my- 
self delivered  him  the  order  from  Colonel  Simcox." 

Great  was  the  excitement  and  consternation  in 
Gregory's  brigade,  and  indeed  throughout  the 
American  army  when  these  notes  were  read. 
Arnold's  treason  early  in  1780  was  still  fresh  in 
the  minds  of  all ;  and  it  was  natural  that  the  accu- 
sation now  brought  against  General  Gregory 
should  find  ready  and  widespread  credence.  Greg- 


106 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

ory  was  arrested  and  court-martialed  by  his  own 
men ;  but  his  innocence  was  soon  established,  for 
as  soon  as  Colonel  Stevens  heard  of  the  disgrace 
he  had  unintentionally  brought  upon  an  innocent 
man,  he  hastened  to  make  amends  for  his  thought- 
less act  by  a  full  explanation  of  his  part  in  the 
affair.  Colonel  Parker,  a  British  officer  and  a 
friend  of  Stevens,  had  been  informed  of  the  writ- 
ing of  the  notes,  and  he  now  joined  Stevens  in 
furnishing  testimony  at  the  trial  that  fully  ex- 
onerated the  brave  general  from  the  hateful 
charge.  But  though  friends  and  brother  officers 
now  crowded  around  him  with  sincere  and  cordial 
congratulations  upon  the  happy  termination  of  the 
affair,  and  with  heartfelt  expressions  of  regret  at 
the  unfortunate  occurrence,  the  brave  and  gallant 
officer,  crushed  and  almost  heart-broken  at  the 
readiness  with  which  his  men  and  many  of  his 
fellow  officers  had  accepted  what  seemed  proofs 
of  his  guilt,  never  recovered  from  the  hurt  caused 
by  the  cruel  charge.  For  though  he  nobly  put 
aside  his  just  resentment,  and  remained  at  his 
post  of  duty,  guarding  the  Albemarle  counties 
from  danger  of  invasion  until  the  withdrawal  of 
the  British  troops  from  southeastern  Virginia  re- 
moved the  danger,  his  life  was  ever  afterwards 
shadowed  by  the  mortification  he  had  been  called 
upon  to  undergo. 


107 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

In  February,  1781,  the  enemy's  army  in  Vir- 
ginia became  such  a  source  of  terror  to  the  people 
of  that  section  that  General  Allen  Jones  was 
ordered  to  reinforce  Gregory  with  troops  from 
the  Halifax  District.  But  later  that  same  month 
a  greater  danger  confronted  the  patriot  army  in 
the  South,  and  this  order  was  countermanded. 
Most  of  the  forces  in  the  States  were  now  hurried 
to  the  aid  of  General  Greene,  who  had  superseded 
Gates  after  the  battle  of  Camden,  and  was  leading 
Cornwallis  an  eventful  chase  across  the  Piedmont 
section  of  North  Carolina.  Cornwallis,  after  hav- 
ing been  reinforced  by  General  Leslie,  had  planned 
to  invade  North  Carolina,  conquer  that  State, 
march  through  Virginia  and  join  Clinton  in  a 
fierce  onslaught  against  Washington's  army  in 
the  North.  To  foil  the  plans  of  the  British  officers 
Greene  was  concentrating  the  patriot  troops  in  the 
South  in  the  Catawba  Valley,  and  Gregory  \vas 
left  with  only  a  handful  of  men  to  hold  the  enemy 
at  Norfolk  in  check. 

In  June,  General  Gregory's  situation  was  so  des- 
perate that  the  Assembly  again  ordered  General 
Allan  Jones  to  send  400  men  from  Halifax  Dis- 
trict to  North  West  Bridge  to  reinforce  Gregory ; 
and  the  latter  officer  was  authorized  to  draft  as 
many  men  as  possible  from  the  Edenton  District. 

General  Jones  informed  the  Assembly  that  he 


108 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

would  send  the  troops  as  soon  as  possible,  but  that 
Gregory  would  have  to  provide  arms,  as  he  had 
no  means  of  furnishing  equipments  for  them. 

Several  engagements  took  place  in  June  between 
the  British  and  Americans  in  the  Dismal  Swamp 
region,  and  in  one  of  them  Gregory  was  repulsed 
and  driven  from  his  position.  But  in  July  he  wrote 
to  Colonel  Blount  reporting  that  his  losses  were 
trifling,  and  that  he  had  regained  his  old  post 
from  the  enemy.  In  August,  1781,  a  letter  from 
General  Gregory  conveyed  the  joyful  tidings  that 
the  enemy  had  evacuated  Portsmouth.  As  his 
troops  were  no  longer  needed  to  guard  against  the 
danger  of  invasion  from  that  direction,  and  as 
smallpox  had  broken  out  in  his  camp,  General 
Gregory  now  released  his  men  from  duty,  and  they 
returned  to  their  homes. 

The  British  army  that  had  just  left  Portsmouth, 
was  now  on  its  way  to  Yorktown,  whither  Corn- 
wallis,  after  his  fruitless  chase  of  Greene,  his  dis- 
astrous victory  at  Guilford  Courthouse,  and  his 
retreat  to  Wilmington,  was  now  directing  his 
army.  There  on  the  19th  of  October  the  famous 
Battle  of  Yorktown  was  fought  and  Cornwallis 
and  his  entire  army  forced  to  surrender. 

This  battle  virtually  ended  the  war;  but  peace 
did  not  come  to  Carolina  immediately  upon  the 


109 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

surrender.  The  Tories  in  the  State  kept  up  a  con- 
stant warfare  upon  their  Whig  neighbors,  and  in 
March,  1782,  General  Greene,  who  not  long  after 
the  battle  of  Guilford  Courthouse  had  won  a 
decisive  victory  at  Eutaw  Springs,  and  was  still 
in  South  Carolina,  sent  the  alarming  intelligence 
to  the  towns  on  the  coast  that  the  British  had  sent 
four  vessels  from  Charleston  harbor  to  plunder 
and  burn  New  Bern  and  Edenton.  To  meet  this 
unexpected  emergency,  General  Rutherford  was 
ordered  to  quell  the  Tories  in  the  Cape  Fear  sec- 
tion, who  were  terrorizing  the  people  in  that  re- 
gion. And  in  April,  1782,  General  Gregory  re- 
ceived orders  from  General  Burke  to  take  500  men 
to  Edenton  for  the  defense  of  that  town,  and  to 
notify  Count  de  Rochambeau  as  soon  as  the  enemy 
should  appear  in  Albemarle  Sound.  In  August  no 
sign  of  the  British  ships  had  as  yet  been  seen, 
though  the  coast  towns  were  still  in  daily  dread  of 
their  arrival.  Governor  Martin,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded Burke,  wrote  Gregory  to  purchase  what- 
ever number  of  vessels  the  Edenton  merchants 
considered  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the 
town,  to  buy  cannon  and  to  draft  men  to  man  the 
boats. 

But  Edenton  was  spared  the  horror  of  a  second 
raid  such  as  she  had  suffered  in  1781.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1782,  the  British  army  in  South  Carolina, 


110 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

which  since  the  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs  had  been 
hemmed  in  at  Charleston  by  General  Greene, 
finally  embarked  for  England.  The  ships  that  had 
been  keeping  the  towns  near  the  coast  in  North 
Carolina  in  terror,  departed  with  them,  and  the 
States  that  had  for  so  many  long  and  bitter  years 
been  engaged  in  the  terrific  struggle  with  Eng- 
land, were  left  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  splendid 
victory  without  further  molestation  from  the 
enemy. 

In  September,  1783,  the  Treaty  of  Peace  was 
signed  by  Great  Britain,  and  the  United  States, 
separately  and  individually,  were  declared  to  be 
"free,  sovereign  and  independent  States." 

General  Gregory's  services  to  his  State  did  not 
end  with  the  war.  Eight  times  from  1778  to  1789, 
we  find  him  representing  Camden  County  in  the 
State  Senate,  serving  on  important  committees, 
and  lending  the  weight  of  his  influence  to  every 
movement  tending  toward  the  prosperity  and  wel- 
fare of  the  State.  In  the  local  affairs  of  his  neigh- 
borhood he  also  took  a  prominent  part.  In  1789 
the  Currituck  Seminary  was  established  at  Indian 
Town,  and  Isaac  Gregory  and  his  friend  and 
brother  officer,  Colonel  Peter  Dauge,  were  ap- 
pointed on  the  board  of  trustees  of  this  school, 
which  for  many  years  was  one  of  the  leading  edu- 
cational institutions  of  the  Albemarle  section. 


Ill 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

General  Gregory  lived  at  the  Ferebee  place  in 
Camden  County  in  a  large  brick  house,  known 
then,  as  now,  as  Fairfax  Hall.  The  old  building 
is  still  standing,  a  well  known  landmark  in  the 
county. 

A  letter  from  James  Iredell  to  his  wife,  written 
while  this  famous  North  Carolina  judge  was  a 
guest  at  Fairfax,  gives  a  pleasant  account  of  an 
evening  spent  in  General  Gregory's  home  with 
Parson  Pettigrew  and  Gideon  Lamb,  and  also  of 
the  kindness  and  hospitality  of  the  Camden  people. 

In  volume  2  of  the  Iredell  letters  this  descrip- 
tion of  General  Gregory's  personal  appearance  is 
given : 

"A  lady,  who  remembers  General  Gregory  well, 
says  that  he  was  a  large,  fine  looking  man.  He 
was  exceedingly  polite,  had  a  very  grand  air,  and 
in  dress  was  something  of  a  fop."  In  the  same 
volume  the  following  interesting  account  of  an 
incident  in  the  life  of  the  famous  General  is  found : 
"General  Gregory  lived  in  his  latter  years  so  se- 
cluded a  life  and  knew  so  little  of  events  beyond 
his  own  family  circle,  that  he  addressed  to  a  lady, 
the  widow  of  Governor  Stone,  a  letter  making  a 
formal  proposal  of  marriage,  full  six  months  after 
her  death." 

General  Isaac  Gregory  was  the  son  of  General 
William  Gregory,  an  officer  who  took  a  prominent 


112 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

part  in  the  French  and  Indian  Wars.  He  married 
Miss  Elizabeth  Whedbee,  and  had  two  children, 
Sarah  and  Matilda.  Sarah  married  Dempsey  Bur- 
gess, of  Camden,  and  Matilda  married  a  young 
German,  John  Christopher  Ehringhaus.  Many  of 
the  descendants  of  this  brave  Revolutionary  officer 
are  living  in  the  Albemarle  region  to-day,  and 
claim  with  pride  this  ancestor,  who,  as  Captain 
Ashe  in  his  History  of  North  Carolina  says,  "was 
one  of  the  few  who  won  honor  at  Camden,  and 
whose  good  fame  was  never  tarnished  by  a  single 
unworthy  action." 

The  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  Chapter  of  the  Daught- 
ers of  the  Revolution  have  within  the  past  year 
obtained  from  the  United  States  government  a 
simple  stone  which  they  have  had  placed  to  mark 
the  grave  of  this  gallant  officer,  who  lies  buried  in 
the  family  graveyard  at  Fairfax. 


113 


CHAPTER  XIII 

PERQUIMANS  COUNTY — "LAND  OF  BEAUTIFUL 

WOMEN,"  AND  THE  COLONIAL  TOWN 

OF   HERTFORD 

FROM  its  hidden  source  in  the  southern  fringe 
of  the  far-famed  Dismal  Swamp,  the  Per- 
quimans  River,  lovely  as  its  Indian  name, 
which,  being  interpreted,  signifies  "the  land  of 
beautiful  women,"  comes  winding  down.  Past 
marshes  green  with  flags  and  rushes  and  starred 
with  flowers  of  every  hue,  through  forests  dense 
with  pine  and  cypress,  with  gum  and  juniper,  the 
amber  waters  of  the  ancient  stream  pursue  their 
tranquil  way.  Lazily,  but  steadily  and  untiringly, 
the  river  journeys  on  in  obedience  to  the  eternal, 
insistent  call  of  the  sea,  till  its  waves,  meeting 
and  mingling  with  those  of  the  great  sound  and 
its  numerous  tributaries,  finally  find  their  way 
through  the  sand  bars  that  bound  our  coast,  to  the 
stormy  Atlantic. 

Save  for  the  fields  of  corn  and  cotton  that  lie 
along  its  banks,  and  an  occasional  sawmill  whose 
whirring  wheels  break  at  long  intervals  the  silence 
of  its  wooded  shores,  the  peaceful  river  through 
the  greater  part  of  its  way  is  undisturbed  by 
signs  of  man's  presence.  Only  twice  in  its  course 


114 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

do  its  banks  resound  to  the  hum  of  town  and  vil- 
lage life,  once  when  shortly  emerging  from  the 
Great  Swamp,  the  river  in  its  winding  flows  by  the 
sleepy  little  Quaker  village  of  Belvidere;  and 
again  when  its  tranquility  is  suddenly  broken  by 
the  stir  and  bustle  of  mill  and  factory,  upon 
whose  existence  depends  the  prosperity  of  the  old 
colonial  town  of  Hertford.  There,  the  river,  sud- 
denly as  wide  awake  as  the  beautiful  town  by 
which  it  flows,  changes  its  narrow,  tortuous,  leis- 
urely course,  and  broadening  out  from  a  slender 
stream,  sweeps  on  to  the  sea,  a  river  grown,  whose 
shores  from  this  point  on  lie  apart  from  each 
other  a  distance  of  more  than  a  mile. 

Of  all  the  streams  that  flow  down  to  the  sea 
from  Albemarle,  none  exceeds  in  beauty  or  historic 
interest  the  lovely  Perquimans  River.  On  its 
eastern  banks  lies  Durant's  Neck,  the  home  of 
George  Durant,  the  first  settler  in  our  State,  who 
in  1661  left  his  Virginia  home  and  came  into  Albe- 
marle; and  being  well  pleased  with  the  beauty 
and  fertility  of  fair  Wikacome,  was  content  to 
abide  thenceforth  in  that  favored  spot. 

On  the  banks  of  the  streams  flowing  on  either 
side  of  Wikacome,  roamed  an  Indian  tribe,  the 
Yeopims,  whose  great  chief  Kilcokonen  gave  to 
George  Durant  the  first  deed  for  land  ever  re- 
corded in  our  State.  Durant,  his  friend  and  com- 


115 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

rade,  Samuel  Pricklove,  and  their  families  and 
servants,  proved  to  be  the  vanguard  of  a  long  pro- 
cession of  settlers,  who,  following  the  footsteps  of 
these  first  pioneers,  made  their  homes  upon  the 
shores  of  the  Albemarle  streams.  Soon  the  dense 
forests  that  stretched  down  to  the  river  brinks 
fell  beneath  the  axe  of  these  home-seekers,  and 
small  farms  and  great  plantations  fringed  the 
borders  of  the  streams. 

At  the  narrows  of  the  Perquimans,  where  the 
waters  widen  into  a  broad,  majestic  river,  a 
sturdy  pioneer,  Henry  Phillips  (or  Phelps)  had 
built  his  home.  Thither  in  the  spring  of  1672, 
came  a  missionary,  William  Edmundson,  a  friend 
and  follower  of  George  Fox,  who  some  years  be- 
fore had  over  in  England  founded  the  Society  of 
Friends.  Henry  Phelps  was  a  member  of  this 
Society  also,  and  the  meeting  between  the  two 
godly  men  \vas  a  joyful  one. 

During  the  ten  years  that  had  passed  since  the 
Indian  Chief  had  signed  his  first  grant  of  land  to 
the  white  man,  the  settlers  of  Albemarle  had  had 
no  opportunity  of  assembling  together  for  public 
worship.  Phelps,  knowing  how  gladly  the  call 
would  be  answered,  at  the  bidding  of  Edmundson, 
summoned  such  of  his  friends  and  neighbors  as 
he  could  reach,  to  his  home,  to  hear  the  Word 
preached  by  this  zealous  man  of  God. 


116 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Not  since  the  days  of  little  Virginia  Dare  had  a 
body  of  Christian  men  and  women  met  together 
in  Carolina  to  offer  in  public  worship  their  prayer 
and  praises  to  the  loving  Father,  who  had  led  them 
safely  over  storm-tossed  waters,  through  tangled 
wilderness,  into  this  Land  of  Promise.  Rough  and 
uncultured  as  most  of  the  congregation  were,  they 
listened  quietly  and  reverently  to  the  good  mis- 
sionary, and  received  the  Word  with  gladness. 
There  were  present  at  the  meeting  "one  Terns  and 
his  wife,"  who  earnestly  entreated  Edmundson  to 
hold  another  service  at  their  home  three  miles 
away.  So  the  next  day  he  journeyed  to  the  home 
of  Terns,  and  there  another  "blessed  meeting" 
was  held ;  and  there  was  founded  a  Society  whose 
members  were  to  be  for  many  years  the  most 
prominent  religious  body  in  the  State. 

In  the  fall  of  1672,  the  hearts  of  the  members 
of  this  infant  church  were  gladdened  by  the  tid- 
ings that  George  Fox  himself  was  on  his  way  to 
visit  the  little  band  of  brethren  in  the  wilds  of 
Carolina.  One  cool,  crisp  October  morning,  the 
great  preacher  arrived.  Again  was  the  home  of 
Phelps  chosen  for  the  meeting;  but  so  great  was 
the  crowd  that  gathered  to  hear  him  that  the 
house  would  not  hold  the  congregation.  Standing 
a  little  distance  from  Phelps'  simple  dwelling  were 
two  great  cypress  trees.  Close  down  by  the  water's 


117 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

edge  they  grew,  their  feathery  branches  shading 
the  rippling  waves,  and  shielding  the  listeners 
from  the  glare  of  a  sun  whose  rays  had  not  yet 
lost  their  summer's  heat.  Under  one  of  these 
trees  the  preacher  stood,  and  spoke  to  the  assem- 
bled crowd  as  the  Spirit  gave  him  utterance.  It 
was  a  "tender  meeting,"  as  Fox  reports  in  his 
letters  describing  his  stay  in  Perquimans.  Many 
who  were  present  became  converts  to  the  faith  of 
Fox  and  Edmundson;  and  Perquimans  County 
and  her  sister,  Pasquotank,  became  for  many 
years  the  stronghold  of  the  Society  of  Friends  in 
Carolina. 

For  a  number  of  years  after  George  Fox's  visit 
to  Perquimans,  the  Quakers  were  the  only  relig- 
ious body  in  the  colony  that  regularly  assembled 
its  members  together  for  divine  service.  Their 
ministers  were  for  the  most  part  from  the  congre- 
gation itself ;  no  salary  was  demanded  by  them ; 
and  the  home  of  some  Friends  was  the  scene  of 
their  religious  meetings.  In  a  new  country  where 
ready  money  is  a  scarce  commodity,  a  church  that 
could  be  conducted  without  any  expenditure  of 
cash  could  more  easily  take  root,  than  one  whose 
existence  depended  upon  a  certain  amount,  how- 
ever small,  of  filthy  lucre. 

The  Lords  Proprietors,  members  for  the  most 
part  of  the  Church  of  England,  were  too  intent 


118 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

upon  extracting  wealth  from  their  colony  in  Caro- 
lina to  be  willing  to  expend  any  of  their  gains  for 
the  good  of  the  colonists.  Disregarding  the  peti- 
tions of  their  officers  in  Albemarle,  who  saw  the 
great  need  for  missionaries  in  the  struggling  set- 
tlements, they  refused  to  become  responsible  for 
the  salary  of  a  minister. 

But  after  a  while  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  in  foreign  parts  took  hold  of  the 
matter,  and  in  1702  a  church  was  built  in  Chowan, 
near  where  Edenton  now  stands.  By  1709  Rev. 
Mr.  Gordon,  who  was  one  of  the  two  ministers 
sent  out  by  the  S.  P.  G.,  writes  to  the  secretary 
of  the  Society  from  Perquimans : 

"In  Perquimans  there  is  a  compact  little  church, 
built  with  care  and  express,  and  better  than  that 
in  Chowan.  It  continues  yet  unfinished,  by  reason 
of  the  death  of  Major  Swann,  1707,  who  fostered 
the  building  of  this  church." 

Among  the  vestrymen  of  this  new  parish  may 
be  found  the  following  names:  Francis  Forbes, 
Colonel  Maurice  Moore,  Captain  Hecklefield, 
Thomas  Hardy,  Captain  Richard  Saunderson, 
Henry  Clayton,  Joseph  Jessups,  Samuel  Phelps 
and  Richard  Whedbee.  Most  of  these  gentlemen 
were  men  of  note  in  the  colony,  and  many  of  their 
descendants  are  now  living  in  Perquimans  County. 

That  the  wealthy  planters  in  Albemarle  felt  a 


119 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

certain  responsibility  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
their  slaves,  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  master 
and  slave  alike  gathered  together  to  join  in  the 
services  held  by  the  early  missionaries  of  the 
Church  of  England ;  and  that  the  master  willingly 
allowed  his  servant  to  share  in  the  blessings  of 
the  sacraments  of  the  church.  A  letter  from  Rev. 
Mr.  Taylor,  written  from  Perquimans  in  1719, 
records  that  he  had  just  "baptized  a  young  woman, 
slave  of  Mr.  Duckinfield,  to  whom  I  have  taught 
the  whole  of  the  church  catechism." 

But  the  letter  further  reveals  that  our  early 
colonists  cherished  their  worldly  possessions  fully 
as  fondly  as  their  descendants,  who  pursue  with 
avidity  the  chase  after  the  dollar.  And  when 
it  came  to  the  question  of  the  slave's  spiritual 
welfare,  or  the  master's  temporal  prosperity,  the 
master  did  not  hesitate  to  show  which  he  con- 
sidered of  the  most  importance.  For,  as  Mr.  Tay- 
lor writes,  when  it  was  rumored  in  1719  that  the 
General  Assembly  of  that  year  had  decreed  that  all 
baptized  slaves  should  be  set  free ;  and  when,  im- 
mediately, and  by  a  strange  coincidence,  the  rever- 
end gentleman  was  suddenly  besieged  by  bands  of 
men  and  women,  all  loudly  clamoring  to  receive 
the  rite  of  holy  baptism,  Duckinfield  and  others  of 
the  planters  prudently  restrained  the  poor  darkies 
from  entering  the  church's  folds  until  that  law 
could  be  repealed. 

120 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

In  secular  as  well  as  religious  affairs,  Perqui- 
mans  precinct  in  those  early  days  took  an  active 
part.  Men  of  political  and  social  prominence  re- 
sided within  her  borders,  and  at  their  homes,  for 
lack  of  other  shelter  for  public  gatherings,  much 
of  the  business  of  the  colony,  legislative  and  judi- 
cial, was  transacted. 

As  early  as  1677  the  population  of  Albemarle 
had  grown  so  numerous  that  the  settlers  found 
themselves  strong  enough  to  successfully  resist 
the  oppressive  rule  of  the  unworthy  governors  set 
over  them  by  the  Lords  Proprietors.  And  in  that 
year,  led  by  John  Culpeper  and  George  Durant, 
a  revolt  against  the  tyrannical  Miller,  which  be- 
gan in  Pasquotank,  spread  through  the  surround- 
ing precincts. 

Among  the  men  from  Perquimans  who  took 
part  in  this  disturbance,  known  in  history  as  Cul- 
peper's  Rebellion,  were  George  Durant,  Alexan- 
der Lillington,  Samuel  Pricklove,  Jenkins,  Sher- 
rell  and  Greene.  So  successfully  did  they  and 
their  comrades  strive  against  Miller's  tyranny, 
that  that  worthy  was  driven  out  of  Carolina,  and 
the  reins  of  government  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Culpeper  and  Durant.  And  at  the  home  of  the 
latter  on  Durant's  Neck,  a  fair  and  equitable  peo- 
ple's government  was  organized,  the  first  of  the 
kind  framed  in  America. 


121 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Alexander  Lillington,  who  lent  the  weight  of 
his  wealth  and  influence  to  the  people  in  their 
struggle  against  Miller,  was  a  rich  planter  who  in 
1698  bought  a  tract  of  land  from  Stephen  Pane 
and  John  Foster,  on  Yeopim  Creek,  and  soon  be- 
came one  of  the  leading  men  in  the  colony.  His 
descendants  moved  to  New  Hanover,  and  a  name- 
sake of  his  in  later  years  won  for  himself  undying 
fame  at  the  Battle  of  Moore's  Creek  Bridge. 

At  the  homes  of  Captain  John  Hecklefield  and 
Captain  Richard  Saunderson,  the  General  Assem- 
bly and  the  Governor's  Council  often  convened. 
The  famous  Glover-Cary  controversy  was  tempor- 
arily settled  at  the  home  of  the  former,  by  the 
Assembly  of  1708,  while  Captain  Saunderson's 
dwelling  sheltered  the  Assembly  of  1715,  whose 
important  acts  were  for  the  first  time  formally 
recorded  and  published.  The  courts  were  fre- 
quently held  at  the  home  of  Dinah  Maclenden,  and 
James  Thickpenny.  James  Gates,  Captain  James 
Cole  and  Captain  Anthony  Dawrson  also  bore  their 
share  in  entertaining  the  judicial  assemblies. 

As  the  population  of  the  colony  increased, 
facilities  for  carrying  on  commerce  and  for  trav- 
eling through  the  country  became  one  of  the  cry- 
ing needs  of  the  day.  The  numerous  rivers  of 
Albemarle  made  provision  for  ferries  imperative, 
and  as  early  as  1700,  we  find  record  made  of  "Ye 


122 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

ferre  over  ye  mane  road"  in  Perquimans.  In 
1706  it  is  recorded  that  Samuel  Phelps  was  ap- 
pointed "Keeper  of  ye  Toll  Boke  at  ye  Head  of 
Perquimans  River." 

A  council  held  at  the  home  of  Captain  Saunder- 
son  in  1715  ordered:  "That  for  the  better  con- 
venience of  people  passing  through  the  country, 
a  good  and  sufficient  ferry  be  duly  kept  and  at- 
tended over  Perquimans  River,  from  Mrs.  Anne 
Wilson's  to  James  Thickpenny,  and  that  Mrs.  Wil- 
son do  keep  the  same,  and  that  no  other  persons 
presume  to  ferry  over  horse  or  man  within  five 
miles  above  or  below  that  place." 

As  time  went  on,  the  crowds  attending  the 
courts  and  Assemblies  became  too  large  to  be 
accommodated  in  private  dwellings.  As  early  as 
1722,  the  General  Assembly  ordered  a  court-house 
to  be  built  at  Phelps  Point,  now  the  town  of  Hert- 
ford, and  tradition  states  that  the  old  building 
was  erected  on  the  point  near  the  bridge,  where 
the  home  of  Mr.  Thomas  McMullan  now  stands. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  spots  in  Perqui- 
mans County  is  the  strip  of  land  lying  between  the 
Perquimans  and  the  Yeopim  rivers,  known  as  Har- 
vey's Neck.  This  was  the  home  of  the  Harveys, 
men  who  for  over  a  century  bore  an  important 
part  in  the  history  of  our  State.  It  was  in  older 
days,  as  now,  a  fair  and  fertile  land.  Herds  of 


123 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

deer  wandered  through  its  forests;  and  great 
flocks  of  swan  and  wild  geese  floated  upon  its  sil- 
ver streams,  feeding  upon  the  sweet  grass  which 
then  grew  in  those  rivers.  The  waters  were  then 
salt,  but  with  the  choking  up  of  the  inlets  that 
let  in  the  saline  waves  of  the  Atlantic,  the  grass 
disappeared,  and  with  it  the  wild  fowl  who  win- 
tered there. 

Of  all  the  members  of  the  famous  Harvey  fam- 
ily whose  homes  were  builded  on  this  spot,  none 
proved  more  worthy  of  the  fame  he  won  than 
John  Harvey,  son  of  Thomas  Harvey  and  Eliza- 
beth Coles. 

Elected  when  just  of  age  to  the  Assembly  of 
1746,  he  continued  to  serve  his  State  in  a  public 
capacity  until  his  death  in  1775. 

Resisting  the  tyrannical  endeavor  of  Governor 
Dobbs  to  tax  the  people  against  their  rights,  he 
nevertheless  stood  by  the  same  governor  in  his 
efforts  to  raise  men  and  money  for  the  French 
and  Indian  War.  Serving  as  Speaker  of  the  House 
in  1766,  he  took  an  active  part  in  opposing  the 
Stamp  Act,  and  boldly  declared  in  the  Assembly 
that  North  Carolina  would  not  pay  those  taxes. 
In  the  Assembly  of  1769  he  proposed  that  Caro- 
lina should  form  a  Non-Importation  Association; 
and  when  Governor  Tryon  thereupon  angrily  dis- 
missed the  Assembly  and  ordered  its  members 


124 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

home,  Harvey  called  a  convention  independent  of 
the  Governor,  and  the  association  was  formed. 

When  Governor  Martin  refused  to  call  the  As- 
sembly of  1774,  for  fear  that  it  would  elect  dele- 
gates to  the  Continental  Congress,  John  Harvey 
declared:  "Then  the  people  will  call  an  Assembly 
themselves" ;  and  following  their  intrepid  leader, 
the  people  did  call  the  convention  of  1774,  elected 
their  delegates  to  Philadelphia,  and  openly  and 
boldly  joined  and  led  their  sister  colonies  in  the 
gigantic  struggle  with  the  mother  country  that 
now  began. 

In  the  time  of  Boston's  need,  when  her  ports 
were  closed  by  England's  orders,  and  her  people 
were  threatened  with  starvation,  John  Harvey 
and  Joseph  Hewes  together  caused  the  ship  "Pene- 
lope" to  be  loaded  with  corn  and  meal,  flour  and 
pork,  which  they  solicited  from  the  generous  peo- 
ple of  Albemarle,  and  sent  it  with  words  of  cheer 
and  sympathy  to  their  brethren  in  the  New  Eng- 
land town.  In  1775  Harvey  again  braved  the 
anger  of  the  Royal  Governor  and  called  another 
people's  convention,  whose  purpose  and  work  was 
to  watch  and  circumvent  the  tyrant  in  his  en- 
deavor to  crush  the  patriots  in  the  State. 

"The  Father  of  the  Revolution"  in  Carolina,  he 
was  to  his  native  State  what  Patrick  Henry  was  to 
Virginia,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Revolution,  and 


125 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

what  Hancock  and  Adams  were  to  Massachusetts. 
His  untimely  death,  in  1775,  caused  by  a  fall  from 
a  horse,  was  deeply  mourned  by  patriots  through- 
out the  land. 

Among  other  eminent  sons  of  Perquimans  dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary  period  the  names  of  Miles 
Harvey,  Colonel  of  the  regiment  from  that  county ; 
William  Skinner,  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  same 
regiment;  Thomas  Harvey,  Major,  and  Major 
Richard  Clayton,  are  recorded  in  history.  Among 
the  delegates  to  the  People's  Convention  called  by 
Harvey  and  Johnston  we  find  the  Harveys,  Whed- 
bees,  Blounts,  Skinners  and  Moores,  men  whose 
names  were  prominent  then  as  now  in  the  social 
and  political  life  of  the  State. 

As  time  went  on,  Phelps  Point  at  the  Narrows 
of  the  Perquimans  River  became  so  thickly  popu- 
lated that  by  June,  1746,  a  petition  was  presented 
to  the  General  Assembly,  praying  for  an  act  to 
be  passed  to  lay  out  100  acres  of  land  in  Perqui- 
mans, including  Phelps  Point,  for  a  town  and  a 
town  commons. 

But  a  disturbance  arose  in  the  State  about  that 
time  concerning  the  right  of  the  northern  coun- 
ties to  send  five  delegates  each  to  the  Assembly, 
while  the  southern  counties  were  allowed  to  send 
only  two.  Governor  Gabriel  Johnson  sided  with 
the  southern  section,  and  ordered  the  Assembly  to 


126 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

meet  at  Wilmington  in  November,  1746,  on  which 
occasion  he  and  the  southern  delegates  proposed 
to  make  a  strong  fight  to  reduce  the  representation 
from  the  Albemarle  counties. 

The  northern  counties,  tenaciously  clinging  to 
their  rights,  established  in  the  early  days  of  the 
colony  when  the  counties  south  of  Albemarle 
Sound  had  not  been  organized,  refused  to  send 
delegates  to  this  Assembly ;  whereupon  that  body, 
though  a  majority  of  its  members  were  absent, 
passed  an  act  reducing  the  representation  from 
the  Albemarle  region  to  two  members  from  each 
county.  Indignant  at  this  act,  which  they  con- 
sidered illegal,  the  citizens  in  the  northern  coun- 
ties refused  to  subscribe  to  it,  and  for  eight  years 
declined  to  send  any  delegates  at  all  to  the  Assem- 
bly; and  the  bill  for  establishing  a  town  in  Per- 
quimans  was  heard  from  no  more  until  the  trouble 
between  the  two  sections  was  settled. 

Finally  the  people  of  Albemarle  sent  a  petition 
to  George  III,  praying  him  to  restore  their  rights 
in  the  General  Assembly,  and  the  King  graciously 
granted  their  request.  In  1758  an  Assembly  met 
at  New  Bern,  at  which  delegates  from  all  sections 
of  the  colony  were  present;  and  in  answer  to  a 
petition  presented  by  John  Harvey,  it  passed  an 
act  for  the  erection  of  a  town  at  Phelps  Point  in 
Perquimans  County. 


127 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

The  little  village  was  called  Hertford,  a  word 
of  Saxon  origin,  signifying  Red  Ford.  It  was 
named  for  the  Marquis  of  Hertford,  an  English 
noble  who  moved  for  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act 
in  1766,  and  who  was  ambassador  at  Paris  in  the 
reign  of  George  III,  and  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ire- 
land. 

The  settlement  at  Phelps  Point  was  already  an 
important  rendezvous  for  the  dwellers  in  the 
county.  The  cypress  trees  under  which  Fox  had 
stood  and  preached  to  the  little  band  of  brethren 
still  stood,  as  they  stand  to-day,  bending  lovingly 
over  the  stream,  close  to  the  end  of  the  point.  A 
little  Church  of  England  chapel  farther  down  had 
since  1709  been  the  center  of  the  religious  life  of 
its  members  in  the  county,  and  the  court-house 
on  the  point  since  1722  had  been  the  scene  of  the 
political  and  judicial  gatherings  in  Perquimans. 

The  Assembly  of  1762,  realizing  the  importance 
of  the  little  town  to  the  community,  decreed  that  a 
public  ferry  should  be  established  "from  Newby's 
Point  to  Phelp's  Point  where  the  court-house  now 
stands,"  and  in  1766  Seth  Sumner,  William  Skin- 
ner, Francis  Nixon,  John  Harvey  and  Henry  Clay- 
ton were  appointed  trustees  of  the  ferry ;  a  three- 
penny tax  was  laid  on  all  taxable  persons  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  the  ferry,  and  "All  persons  cross- 
ing to  attend  vestry  meetings,  elections,  military 


128 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

musters,  court  martials  and  sessions  of  the  court" 
were  to  be  carried  over  free  of  charge. 

The  site  of  the  town,  described  in  Colonial 
Records  as  "healthy,  pleasantly  situated,  well 
watered  and  commodious  for  commerce,"  was  the 
property  of  John  Phelps,  who  gave  his  consent  to 
the  laying  off  of  100  acres  for  the  town  on  condi- 
tion that  he  should  retain  his  own  house  and  lot, 
and  four  lots  adjoining  him.  The  public  ferry 
having  fallen  into  his  hands,  the  further  condi- 
tion was  made  that  the  town  should  allow  no  ferry 
other  than  his  to  be  run  so  long  as  he  complied 
with  the  ferry  laws.  The  subscribers  for  the  lots 
were  ordered  to  build  within  three  years,  one  well- 
framed  or  brick  house  at  least  16  feet  square ;  and 
in  one  month  from  purchase,  were  to  pay  the 
trustees  the  sum  of  45  shillings  for  each  lot. 

As  early  as  1754,  before  the  little  settlement  be- 
gan to  assume  the  airs  of  a  town,  the  old  Eagle 
Tavern  still  standing  on  Church  street,  was  a 
registered  hotel ;  and  there  when  court  week  ap- 
peared on  the  calendar,  the  representative  men  of 
the  county  and  the  surrounding  precincts  would 
gather. 

Quiet  Quaker  folk  from  Piney  Woods,  eight 
miles  down  from  Newby's  Point,  Whites  and  Nich- 
olsons, Albertsons,  Newbys  and  Symmes,  jogged 
along  the  country  roads  behind  their  sleek,  well- 


129 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

fed  nags,  to  answer  with  serene  yea  or  nay  the 
questions  asked  on  witness  stand  or  in  jury  room. 
Powdered  and  bewigged  judge  and  lawyer,  high 
and  mighty  King's  officers  from  Edenton  or  New 
Bern,  or  Bath,  brilliant  in  gay  uniform,  rolled  pon- 
derously thither  in  cumbersome  coaches.  Leav- 
ing their  great  plantations  on  the  adjoining  necks 
in  the  hands  of  their  overseers,  Harveys  and 
Skinners,  Blounts  and  Whedbees,  Winslows  and 
Gordons,  Nixons  and  Woods  and  Leighs,  dashed 
up  to  the  doors  of  the  tavern  on  spirited  steeds. 
Hospitable  townsfolk  hurried  to  and  fro,  greeting 
the  travelers,  and  causing  mine  host  of  the  inn 
much  inward  concern,  lest  their  cordial  invitation 
lure  from  his  door  the  guest  whose  bill  he  could 
see,  in  his  mind's  eye,  pleasantly  lengthen,  as  the 
crowded  court  docket  slowly  cleared. 

Very  sure  were  the  guests  at  the  tavern  that 
horse  and  man  would  be  well  cared  for  by  the 
genial  landlord ;  for  the  law  required  that  the  host 
of  Eagle  Tavern  should  give  ample  compensation 
for  the  gold  he  pocketed.  When  business  was 
ended,  the  strangers  within  his  gates  wended  their 
way  homeward.  No  skimping  of  the  bill  of  fare, 
no  inattention  to  the  comfort  of  the  wayfarer  did 
the  landlord  dare  allow,  lest  his  license  be  taken 
from  him  for  violation  of  the  tavern  laws. 

Many  an  illustrious  guest  the  ancient  inn  has 

130 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

known,  and  a  story  cherished  by  the  Hertford 
people  ascribes  to  the  quaint  old  structure  the 
honor  of  having  on  one  occasion  sheltered  be- 
neath its  roof  the  illustrious  "Father  of  his 
Country,"  George  Washington. 

Whether  our  first  President  came  to  Hertford 
on  business  connected  with  lands  in  the  Dismal 
Swamp  in  which  he  was  interested,  or  whether  he 
tarried  at  the  old  tavern  while  on  his  triumphal 
journey  through  the  South  in  1791,  no  one  now 
knows,  but  the  room  is  still  shown,  and  the  tale 
still  told  of  the  great  man's  stay  therein. 

Diagonally  across  the  street  from  the  Eagle 
Tavern,  at  the  end  of  the  yard  enclosing  the  old 
Harvey  home,  may  be  seen  two  great  stones  which 
are  said  to  mark  the  grave  of  a  mighty  Indian 
chief.  Possibly  Kilcokonen,  friend  of  George  Du- 
rant,  lies  buried  there.  The  Hertford  children  in 
olden  days,  when  tales  of  ghost  and  goblin  were 
more  readily  believed  than  they  are  to-day,  used 
to  thrill  with  delicious  fear  whenever  in  the  dusk 
of  the  evening  they  passed  the  spot,  and  warily 
they  would  step  over  the  stones,  half-dreading, 
half-hoping  to  see,  as  legend  said  was  possible,  the 
spirit  of  the  old  warrior  rise  from  the  grave, 
swinging  his  gory  tomahawk  and  uttering  his 
blood-chilling  war  cry. 

During  the  long  years  that  have  passed  since 


131 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

the  white  man  came  into  Albemarle,  old  Perqui- 
mans  has  borne  an  enviable  part  in  making  the 
history  of  our  State. 

Hertford  itself  felt  little  of  the  fury  of  the 
storm  of  the  War  of  Secession,  though  during  the 
awful  cataclysm  the  peaceful  Perquimans  was 
often  disturbed  by  the  gunboats  of  the  Northern 
Army.  One  brief  battle  was  fought  in  the  town, 
in  wrhich  one  man  was  killed  on  each  side.  And 
the  old  residents  still  love  to  boast  of  the  heroism 
shown  by  the  courageous  Hertford  women,  who, 
while  the  skirmish  was  going  on,  came  out  on  their 
piazzas,  and,  heedless  of  the  shot  and  shell  flying 
thick  and  fast  around  them,  cheered  on  the  sol- 
diers battling  to  defend  their  homes. 

A  ball  from  one  of  the  gunboats  on  the  river, 
wrhile  this  skirmish  was  taking  place,  went 
through  one  of  the  houses  down  near  the  shore 
and  tore  the  covering  from  the  bed  on  which  the 
mistress  of  the  house  had  just  been  lying. 

The  cruel  war  at  last  w7as  over,  the  darker  days 
of  Reconstruction  passed  heavily  and  stressfully 
by;  the  South  began  to  recover  from  the  ruin 
wrought  by  the  awful  struggle  and  its  aftermath ; 
and  in  the  quiet  years  that  followed,  the  Spirit  of 
God  brooded  over  her  rivers,  hills  and  plains,  and 
brought  peace  and  prosperity  to  the  troubled  land. 
Her  farms  were  tilled  again,  the  wheels  of  mills 


132 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

and  factories  were  set  whirling,  and  new  business 
enterprises  offered  to  the  laboring  man  oppor- 
tunities to  earn  a  fair  living. 

And  the  old  colonial  town  of  Hertford,  sharing 
with  her  sister  towns  and  cities  in  the  Southland 
the  prosperity  for  which  her  children  for  many 
weary,  painful  years  had  so  bravely  and  man- 
fully striven,  sees  the  dawn  of  a  new  day,  bright 
with  the  promise  of  a  happy  future  for  her  sons 
and  daughters. 


133 


CHAPTER  XIV 

CURRITUCK,   THE    HAUNT   OF   THE   WILD   FOWL 

CURRITUCK  County  is  known  the  country 
over  as  the  sportsman's  paradise.  Thither 
when  the  first  sharp  frost  gives  warning 
that  the  clear  autumn  skies  will  soon  be  banked 
with  gray  snow  clouds,  the  wild  fowl  from  the  far 
North  come  flocking.  And  as  the  swift-winged 
procession  skims  through  the  starry  skies,  and 
the  hoarse  cry  of  the  aerial  voyagers  resounds 
over  head,  then  do  the  dwellers  in  eastern  Albe- 
marle  know  for  a  surety  that  the  year  is  far 
spent,  and  the  winter  days  close  at  hand. 

Guided  by  unerring  instinct,  the  feathered 
tribes  of  the  North  pursue  "through  the  boundless 
sky  their  certain  flight"  till  the  shallow  waters  of 
Currituck  Sound  and  its  reedy  shores  greet  their 
eager  sight.  There  they  find  the  wild  celery  and 
other  aquatic  plants  upon  which  they  love  to  feed, 
growing  in  abundance ;  and  there  they  make  their 
winter  home  "and  rest  and  scream  among  their 
fellows,"  preferring  the  risk  of  death  at  the  hands 
of  the  sportsman  to  the  certain  starvation  that 
would  confront  them  in  their  native  Arctic  clime. 
Vast  as  are  to-day  the  clouds  of  wild  fowl  that 
every  year  descend  upon  the  shores  and  waters  of 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Currituck,  their  numbers  were  far  greater  in 
years  long  gone,  before  the  white  man  with  shot 
and  gun  came  roving  among  the  reedy  marshes. 
Long  before  George  Durant's  advent  into  the 
State,  the  Indians  with  that  aptness  for  nomen- 
clature for  which  they  are  noted,  had  given  to  this 
haunt  of  the  wild  fowl  the  name  of  "Coretonk," 
or  Currituck,  as  now  called,  in  imitation  of  the  cry 
of  the  feathered  visitors. 

But  not  alone  as  the  winter  home  of  the  winged 
creatures  of  the  Northern  wilds  was  Currituck 
noted  in  the  early  days  of  our  State.  This  county, 
formerly  much  larger  than  it  is  to-day,  for  many 
years  embraced  the  region  known  as  Dare  County, 
and  to  Currituck  belongs  the  distinction  of  having 
once  included  within  its  borders  the  spot  upon 
which  Raleigh's  colonies  tried  to  establish  their 
homes. 

The  history  of  that  event  is  too  well  known  to 
bear  repetition.  The  story  of  Amadas'  and  Bar- 
lowe's  expedition,  of  Ralph  Lane's  bold  adventures 
in  exploration  of  Albemarle  Sound,  Chowan  River 
and  Chesapeake  Bay,  of  the  return  of  his  dis- 
appointed colony  to  England  in  Drake's  vessels, 
and  the  tragic  fate  of  little  Virginia  Dare  and  of 
John  White's  colony,  have  all  been  told  in  fiction, 
song  and  verse. 

The  failure  of  Raleigh's  colonies  to  establish  a 


135 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

permanent  settlement  in  the  New  World  discour- 
aged the  English  for  many  years  from  making 
any  further  attempts  to  settle  America.  From 
1590,  the  date  of  Governor  White's  return  to  Roan- 
oke,  and  of  his  unsuccessful  search  for  the  "lost 
colony,"  that  lovely  island  for  many  years  disap- 
pears from  the  white  man's  gaze;  and  save  for  a 
few  scattered,  unrecorded  settlements  in  northern 
Albemarle,  Carolina  itself  was  almost  unknown  to 
the  world. 

But  in  September,  1654,  according  to  the  Colon- 
ial Records,  a  young  fur  trader  from  Virginia  had 
the  misfortune  to  lose  his  sloop  in  which  he  was 
about  to  embark  for  the  purpose  of  trading  with 
the  Indians  in  the  Albemarle  country.  For  rea- 
sons not  stated  he  supposed  she  had  gone  to  Roan- 
oke,  so  he  hired  a  small  boat,  and  with  three  com- 
panions set  out  in  search  of  the  runaway  vessel. 
"They  entered  at  Coratoke  Inlet,  ten  miles  to  the 
north  of  Cape  Henry,"  so  reads  the  ancient  chron- 
icle, "and  so  went  to  Roanoke  Island,  where,  or 
near  thereabouts,  they  found  the  Great  Com- 
mander of  those  parts  with  his  Indians  a-hunting, 
who  received  them  civilly  and  showed  them  tho 
ruins  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  fort,  from  which  I 
received  a  sure  token  of  their  being  there." 

A  few  months  before  this  journey  of  the  young 
fur  trader,  Charles  II  had  bestowed  upon  eight  of 


136 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

his  favorites  all  the  territory  in  America  lying  be- 
tween the  thirty-first  and  thirty-sixth  parallels  of 
latitude,  a  princely  gift  indeed,  and  worthy  of  the 
loyal  friends  who  had  devoted  their  lives  and 
fortunes  to  the  Stuart  cause  during  the  dark  days 
when  that  cause  seemed  hopelessly  lost.  This 
grant  embraced  the  land  adjacent  to  the  north 
shore  of  Albemarle  Sound,  and  extending  to 
Florida;  but  it  failed  to  include  a  strip  of  terri- 
tory about  thirty  miles  broad,  lying  between  the 
thirty-sixth  degree  and  the  Virginia  line.  In  this 
fertile  region  George  Durant  and  other  settlers 
had  as  early  as  1661  established  their  homes,  buy- 
ing from  Kilcokonen,  the  great  Chief  of  the  Yeo- 
pims,  their  right  to  the  lands;  and  there  these 
hardy  pioneers  were  swiftly  converting  the  pri- 
meval wilderness  into  fertile  and  productive  fields. 
Governor  Berkeley,  of  Virginia,  looked  with 
covetous  eye  upon  this  fair  strip  of  land,  and  with 
a  view  to  planting  settlements  there  in  order  to 
establish  Virginia's  claim  to  the  territory,  he  had 
offered  in  the  name  of  King  Charles  extensive 
grants  in  this  region  to  planters  who  would  bring 
a  certain  number  of  people  into  Albemarle.  In 
1663  Berkeley  granted  to  John  Harvey  600  acres 
of  land  "lying  in  a  small  creek  called  Curratuck 
(probably  Indian  Creek  to-day),  falling  into  the 
River  Kecoughtancke  (now  North  River),  which 


137 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

falls  in  the  Carolina  River  (known  to-day  as  Albe- 
marle  Sound).  The  land  was  given  Mr.  Harvey 
for  bringing  into  the  colony  twelve  new  settlers." 

Many  other  settlers  in  this  region  had  acquired 
their  lands  by  patents  from  Virginia;  but  after 
the  King's  gift  to  his  friends,  Berkeley,  himself 
one  of  the  Lords  Proprietors,  was  no  longer  de- 
sirous to  consider  the  Albemarle  region  a  part  of 
the  Virginia  Colony;  and  henceforth  the  grants 
of  land  were  all  issued  in  the  name  of  the  Lords 
Proprietors.  For  several  years,  however,  the 
Albemarle  counties  were  really  separate,  and  to 
all  practical  purposes,  independent  territory.  The 
proprietors  had  no  legal  claim  to  the  region,  and 
there  was  nothing  in  Virginia's  charter  to  show 
that  she  could  rightfully  lay  claim  to  it.  Never- 
theless the  proprietors  did  claim  it,  and  authorized 
Berkeley  to  appoint  a  governor  for  that  region. 
Berkeley  therefore  journeyed  into  the  settlement, 
organized  a  government,  and  appointed  Drum- 
mond  Governor  of  Albemarle. 

In  1665  the  Lords,  realizing  the  confusion  that 
would  arise  unless  their  claim  to  the  land  was 
made  good,  induced  the  King  to  include  Albemarle 
in  their  grant. 

But  Virginia  was  by  no  means  ready  to  relin- 
quish her  claim  to  this  promising  settlement,  and 
after  Berkeley's  day  a  long  struggle  began  be- 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

tween  the  Royal  Governors  of  that  colony  over 
the  question  as  to  who  should  collect  the  rents  and 
taxes  from  the  inhabitants  of  this  disputed  tract. 
As  late  as  1689  the  quarrel  was  still  going  on,  and 
the  Governor  and  Council  of  Virginia  appealed  to 
William  and  Mary  to  restrain  the  Governor  of 
North  Carolina  from  collecting  taxes  in  Currituck 
County ;  and  the  question  of  the  boundary  line  be- 
tween Virginia  and  Carolina  still  being  uncertain, 
the  sovereigns  were  asked  to  have  the  bounds  sur- 
veyed and  settled. 

Not  for  many  years  was  this  request  regarded, 
though  in  1711  commissioners  from  Virginia 
went  to  Currituck  to  meet  those  from  Carolina 
for  the  purpose  of  surveying  the  land  and  estab- 
lishing the  boundary  between  the  two  colonies. 
For  some  reason  the  Carolina  commissioners 
failed  to  appear,  and  not  till  1728  did  the  work  of 
settling  the  disputed  boundaries  really  begin.  In 
March  of  that  year  commissioners  from  the  two 
colonies  met  on  the  north  shore  of  Currituck 
Inlet,  and  a  cedar  post  on  the  seashore  was  fixed 
as  the  beginning  of  the  line.  The  result  of  the 
survey  was  that  many  thousand  acres  and  several 
hundred  people  whom  Virginia  had  claimed  were 
found  to  be  in  the  Albemarle  District. 

This  was  naturally  a  great  disappointment  to 
Virginia,  and  equally  a  matter  of  rejoicing  to 


139 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Carolina,  not  only  on  account  of  the  extra  terri- 
tory and  inhabitants  she  now  could  lawfully  claim, 
but  because  Currituck  Inlet,  the  only  entrance 
from  the  sea  north  of  Roanoke  Island,  was  there- 
after indisputably  thrown  within  her  borders. 
This  inlet,  now  closed  by  the  shifting  sands  that 
form  the  long  sand  bars  on  the  Carolina  coast,  was 
of  great  importance  in  the  early  days  of  the  col- 
ony, forming  an  entrance  from  the  sea  to  the 
sound  through  which  the  trading  vessels  could 
slip.  So  necessary  was  this  inlet  to  the  commerce 
of  the  colony  that  in  1726  the  General  Assembly 
ordered  that  the  powder  money  accruing  to  the 
government  by  vessels  coming  into  Currituck  Inlet 
should  be  appropriated  for  beaconing  and  staking 
out  the  channel  at  that  entrance.  But  by  1731,  the 
steady  beating  of  the  waves  on  the  coast  had  de- 
posited a  bank  of  sand  at  the  inlet.  Governor  Bur- 
rington  wrote  to  the  Board  of  Trade  that  it  was  no 
longer  possible  for  large  vessels  to  enter  there, 
nor  at  Roanoke  Inlet,  which  had  also  become  so 
dangerous  that  no  one  cared  to  use  it,  but  that  the 
vessels  now  were  obliged  to  go  around  by  Ocra- 
coke  Inlet  to  make  their  exit  and  entrance  from 
and  into  Albemarle  Sound.  The  closing  of  the 
inlet  was  such  a  serious  misfortune  to  the  State 
that  time  and  again  efforts  were  made  to  reopen  it, 
and  the  Assembly  of  1761  appropriated  money  for 


140 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

that  purpose.  But  "man's  control  stops  with  the 
sea" ;  the  waves  continued  to  drop  their  burden  of 
sand  at  the  entrance  to  the  inlet,  and  finally  the 
attempt  was  abandoned.  The  great  Atlantic  had 
made  the  entrance,  and  the  same  force  had  closed 
it,  seemingly,  forever,  though  small  sloops  still 
slipped  in  and  out  over  the  bar  until  1821,  when 
it  was  entirely  closed.  So  necessary  was  an  outlet 
to  the  sea  to  the  people  of  the  Albemarle  region, 
that  the  Assembly  of  1786  passed  an  act  providing 
for  the  digging  of  a  canal  from  Currituck  Sound 
to  the  head  of  North  River;  from  thence  vessels 
could  go  up  North  River  and  into  Elizabeth  River, 
and  on  to  Norfolk,  and  so  to  the  sea.  This  pro- 
posed plan  was  not  carried  out  until  many  years 
later;  for  it  was  not  until  almost  1858  that  the 
Albemarle  and  Chesapeake  Canal,  following  closely 
the  route  proposed  in  1786,  was  dug,  though 
long  before  that  date  the  Dismal  Swamp  Canal 
had  been  opened,  and  a  flourishing  traffic  was  car- 
ried on  between  Virginia  and  Carolina  waters. 

A  traveler  in  eastern  Carolina,  writing  for  Har- 
per's Magazine  in  1858,  an  account  of  his  journey- 
ings  in  the  Albemarle  region,  gives  a  most  inter- 
esting description  of  his  trip  on  the  Albemarle  and 
Chesapeake  Canal.  The  Calypso  was  the  first 
steamer  to  go  through  the  canal,  and  on  her 
maiden  journey  from  Norfolk  to  Currituck  County 


141 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

in  1858,  she  was  the  observed  of  all  observers. 
Furthermore,  continues  Mr.  Bruce,  the  writer  of 
the  article,  who  stopped  at  Currituck  Courthouse 
for  several  days,  "We  must  say  that  for  average 
culture,  intelligence  and  physical  vigor,  the  people 
of  this  'kingdom  by  the  sea'  will  hold  their  own 
with  most  other  communities,  North  or  South." 
Currituck  being  the  sea  frontier  of  Albemarle, 
her  waterways  were  naturally  of  prime  import- 
ance to  the  State;  but  other  matters  of  as  great 
importance  are  found  in  reading  the  annals  of 
this  wind-blown,  wave-washed  county.  In  relig- 
ious affairs  we  find  that  she  early  begins  to  make 
history.  In  1708  Governor  Glover  wrote  to  the 
Bishop  of  London :  "Pasquotank  and  Currituck 
are  now  under  the  care  of  Rev.  James  Adams,  to 
their  general  satisfaction,  to  whom  they  have  pre- 
sented the  small  provision  of  30  pounds  a  year." 
In  1710  Rev.  James  Adams  informed  the  S.  P. 
G.  A.  that  he  had  been  living  for  over  a  year  in 
the  home  of  a  Mr.  Richard  Saimderson,  a  former 
member  of  the  Governor's  Council,  who  had  made 
a  will  in  which,  after  his  own  and  his  wife's  death, 
he  had  left  considerable  legacy  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  a  minister  in  Currituck  Parish,  where  he 
lived,  namely:  "A  good  plantation  with  all  the 
houses  and  furniture,  slaves,  and  their  increase, 
and  stock  of  cows,  sheep  and  horses  and  hogs,  with 


142 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

their  increase  forever."  This  was  later  declared 
void  by  the  courts  on  account  of  Sanderson's  in- 
capacity. 

So  acceptable  did  Mr.  Adams  prove  to  the 
parish,  that  in  1710  the  vestry  wrote  a  letter  of 
thanks  to  Thomas,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
thanking  him  for  sending  this  godly  clergyman 
of  the  Church  of  England  to  the  parish.  In  1712, 
on  the  death  of  Mr.  Adams,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Rains- 
ford  was  sent  to  take  his  place.  He  wrote  back  to 
England  that  on  reaching  Currituck  he  found  a 
small  chapel  at  Indian  Town,  and  there  in  June  of 
that  year  he  "preached  to  vast  crowds"  that  came 
to  hear  him. 

In  1715  a  legally  appointed  vestry  was  organ- 
ized for  the  parish  of  Currituck,  among  the  most 
prominent  of  whose  members  were  Richard  Saun- 
derson,  Colonel  William  Reed,  Foster  Jarvis,  Wil- 
liam Swann,  and  William  Williams.  The  services 
of  the  Church  of  England  were  conducted  in  the 
county  during  those  early  days  with  as  much  regu- 
larity as  the  scattered  congregations  and  the  lack 
of  facilities  for  traveling  in  that  water-bound 
region  permitted.  In  1774  the  General  Assembly 
passed  an  act  to  establish  St.  Martin's  chapel  at 
Belleville,  and  Isaac  Gregory,  Peter  Dauge  and  a 
Mr.  Ferebee  were  appointed  to  take  this  matter 
in  charge.  In  educational  matters  Currituck  was 


143 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

wonderfully  alert  in  colonial  days  for  a  county  so 
inaccessible  from  the  rest  of  the  State.  Probably 
the  most  noted  of  her  schools  was  the  Indian  Town 
Academy  built  in  1761  by  William  Ferebee,  one  of 
the  most  prominent  men  in  North  Carolina,  on  his 
plantation,  called  by  the  Indians  "Culong,"  and 
by  the  whites,  "Indian  Town."  Many  of  the  stu- 
dents at  this  academy  were  in  later  days  to  be 
counted  among  the  State's  most  famous  and  useful 
men.  William  Ferebee's  family  alone  furnished 
six  members  of  the  Legislature,  three  Revolu- 
tionary officers,  and  one  Colonel  in  the  Confed- 
eracy in  the  War  of  Secession.  For  a  hundred 
years  this  famous  old  school  kept  up  its  career  of 
usefulness,  but  in  the  so-called  "negro  raid"  of 
1863  it  met  the  fate  that  befell  so  many  of  the 
South's  cherished  institutions  during  the  dark 
days  of  1861-1865,  and  was  reduced  to  ashes  by 
the  incendiary's  torch. 

Another  well  known  school  in  Indian  Town,  the 
most  prominent  settlement  in  Currituck  in  colon- 
ial days,  was  the  Currituck  Seminary  of  Learning, 
which  was  built  in  1789,  and  which  numbered 
among  its  trustees  Isaac  Gregory,  Peter  Dauge, 
and  William  Ferebee.  This  building  served  the 
triple  purpose  of  school,  church  and  Masons'  Hall, 
the  upper  story  being  used  for  holding  church  ser- 
vice, and  by  the  Masons  for  their  meetings,  and 


144 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

the  lower  for  the  school.  The  principal  of  this 
school  was  called  the  provost,  a  high-sounding  title 
which  must  have  made  even  the  most  insignificant 
of  pedagogues  feel  proud  and  important.  Among 
the  teachers  employed  at  this  institution  during 
the  later  years  of  its  existence  was  Ezekiel  Gil- 
man,  of  Massachusetts,  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
who  came  to  Currituck  in  1840  and  who  taught  in 
Currituck  and  Camden  fifty  consecutive  years. 
Mr.  Gilman  is  still  well  and  affectionately  remem- 
bered by  citizens  of  these  counties,  who  as  lads 
were  fortunate  enough  to  be  his  pupils.  Though 
somewhat  eccentric  in  manner  and  dress,  he  was 
a  man  of  deep  learning,  whose  kindness  of  heart 
was  proverbial  throughout  the  counties  which 
were  the  scene  of  his  labors. 

When  the  storm  of  the  Revolutionary  War  broke 
over  the  American  Colonies,  the  men  of  Currituck 
came  gallantly  to  the  front,  and  with  comrade  sol- 
diers from  the  other  colonies  doggedly  and  persist- 
ently fought  the  foe  till  the  last  British  trooper 
was  driven  from  the  land,  and  independence  was 
not  only  declared,  but  won.  Few  counties  in  the 
State  gave  more  freely  of  her  sons  than  did  this 
county  by  the  sea.  Few  can  show  a  longer  list  of 
brave  and  gallant  officers.  Among  the  most  noted 
of  these  were  the  three  sons  of  William  Ferebee, 
of  Culong  Plantation,  Joseph,  William  and  Samuel. 


145 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Joseph  was  a  Lieutenant  in  Colonel  Jarvis'  Tenth 
North  Carolina  Militia,  and  was  at  Valley  Forge 
during  the  terrible  winter  of  1777-'78.  There  is  a 
family  tradition  that  he  killed  General  Fordyce, 
of  the  British  Army,  at  the  Battle  of  Great  Bridge, 
near  Norfolk.  William  was  appointed  Captain  in 
the  Seventh  Regiment  of  Continentals  from  North 
Carolina,  and  was  later  a  member  of  the  Conven- 
tion of  1789,  which  ratified  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion. Samuel  Ferebee  served  as  sergeant  and  en- 
sign in  the  companies  of  Captain  William  Russell 
and  Colonel  Samuel  Jarvis.  He  volunteered  in 
Captain  Joseph  Ferebee's  company,  was  ensign 
under  Captain  James  Phillips,  and  was  commis- 
sioned lieutenant,  and  collected  troops  by  order  of 
General  Gregory  for  Baron  Von  Steuben.  Samuel 
Ferebee  wras  also  the  last  surviving  member  of  the 
Fayetteville  Convention,  which  ratified  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution.  He  was  married  three  times, 
and  as  the  family  chronicle  quaintly  puts  it,  "was 
always  married  on  Sunday  and  on  the  fourteenth 
day  of  the  month." 

Among  the  prominent  families  of  Currituck 
during  the  colonial  and  Revolutionary  days,  as 
well  as  in  our  own  times,  was  the  Jarvis  family, 
whose  members  have  been  men  of  note  in  the  State 
since  her  history  began. 

At  the  two  conventions,  called  at  New  Bern  by 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

John  Harvey,  in  1774-'75,  Samuel  Jarvis  repre- 
sented his  county,  and  he  also  figured  prominently 
in  the  Halifax  Convention  that  framed  our  State 
Constitution.  In  1775  he  was  appointed  Colonel 
of  the  Minute  Men  from  Currituck,  in  1777  he 
was  the  recruiting  officer  from  his  county,  and  in 
1779  he  received  his  commission  as  Colonel  of  the 
militia,  by  the  advice  of  the  Governor's  Coun- 
cil, in  place  of  Colonel  Perkins,  who  had  recently 
died.  During  this  year  Jarvis  wrote  to  Governor 
Ashe,  asking  that  he  would  grant  the  petition  of 
the  men  living  on  the  "Banks,"  who  had  asked  to 
be  excused  from  enlisting.  The  dwellers  on  the 
coast  were  exposed  to  attacks  from  the  enemy, 
and  should  the  husbands  and  fathers  of  that  sec- 
tion of  the  county  be  forced  to  the  field,  their 
homes  would  be  defenceless.  How  great  the  dan- 
ger was  had  been  realized  a  few  days  before  Jarvis 
wrote  this  letter,  for  a  British  ship  had  entered 
the  inlet,  burned  two  vessels  belonging  to  the  pa- 
triots, and  killed  the  cattle  in  the  nearby  marshes. 
The  Governor  granted  the  petition,  and  seeing  the 
peril  to  which  the  dwellers  on  the  "Banks"  were 
exposed,  he  ordered  ammunition  and  food  to  be 
sent  to  Jarvis  for  their  use  and  protection. 

The  names  of  Thomas  Jarvis,  Judge  of  the  Ad- 
miralty Court  of  Currituck,  and  later  Lieutenant 
Colonel  in  Samuel  Jarvis'  regiment,  and  of  John 


147 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Jarvis,  First  Lieutenant  in  an  independent  com- 
pany stationed  between  Currituck  and  Roanoke 
inlets  for  the  safeguard  of  the  coast  section,  are 
also  familiar  to  students  of  the  Revolutionary  his- 
tory of  our  State ;  while  in  recent  times  ex-Gover- 
nor Thomas  Jarvis,  in  his  services  to  the  South 
during  the  War  between  the  States,  his  educa- 
tional campaign  while  Governor  of  North  Caro- 
lina, his  distinguished  career  as  Minister  to  Brazil 
and  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  members  of  the 
State  Bar,  has  added  further  distinction  to  the 
honored  name  he  bears. 

Throughout  the  Revolution,  from  the  Battle  of 
Great  Bridge,  where  her  men  fought  gallantly  in 
repelling  Lord  Dunmore's  invasion,  through  the 
siege  of  Charleston,  in  the  long  and  dreary  winter 
at  Valley  Forge,  on  the  fatal  field  of  Camden,  and 
in  many  other  important  crises  of  the  war,  the  sol- 
diers of  Currituck  were  found  in  the  front  ranks 
of  the  American  army,  lustily  shouting  the  "battle- 
cry  of  freedom."  And  not  until  the  last  British 
trooper  had  left  our  shores  did  they  lay  down  their 
arms  and  return  to  their  long  neglected  and  de- 
serted fields  and  farms. 

But  though  the  county  gave  freely  of  her  sons 
to  the  American  ranks,  there  were  some  within 
her  borders  who  deserted  the  cause,  and  either 
openly  or  secretly  sympathized  with  the  enemy. 


148 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

The  most  noted  of  these  Tories  was  Thomas 
McKnight,  who  showed  his  colors  early  in  the 
struggle.  McKnight  was  a  prominent  citizen  of 
Indian  Town.  This  colonial  settlement  was  built 
on  land  reserved  by  the  Lords  Proprietors  in 
1704  to  Yeopim  Indians,  whose  chief  town  was 
called  by  them  "Culong."  In  1774  these  Indians, 
with  permission  of  the  General  Assembly,  sold 
their  lands,  and  with  their  king,  John  Durant,  left 
the  State.  The  lands  were  bought  by  Thomas 
McKnight,  Gideon  Lamb,  Peter  Dauge,  Major 
Taylor  Jones,  John  Humphries,  William  Ferebee, 
and  Thomas  Pool  Williams,  all  Revolutionary  sol- 
diers or  members  of  the  legislative  bodies  before 
or  after  the  war. 

A  white  settlement  grew  up  on  the  site  of  an- 
cient "Culong,"  and  the  name  of  the  red  man's  vil- 
lage was  changed  to  Indian  Town,  in  memory  of 
its  former  inhabitants. 

McKnight  represented  Currituck  at  the  New 
Bern  Convention  of  1775,  and  there  refusing  to 
sign  the  document  approving  the  Continental  Con- 
gress at  Philadelphia,  and  withdrawing  from  the 
Convention,  he  was  accused  of  being  a  Tory  by  the 
House  and  denounced  as  a  traitor  to  his  country. 

Though  in  an  open  letter  to  Joseph  Jones,  of 
Pasquotank,  McKnight  indignantly  denied  the 
charges  against  his  loyalty  to  America,  the  Hali- 


149 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

fax  Convention  of  1770  ordered  his  estate  to  be 
confiscated  and  rented  out  for  benefit  of  the  State, 
by  Isaac  Gregory,  William  Ferebee,  and  Abram 
Harrison.  An  amusing  story  is  told  of  how 
McKnight  acquired  one  of  his  plantations  in  Cur- 
rituck.  John  Durant,  the  Chief  of  the  Yeopims, 
had  very  astutely  made  it  known  to  his  own 
braves,  as  well  as  to  his  white  neighbors,  that  the 
visions  that  visited  him  in  his  somnolent  hours 
must  somehow,  somewhere,  if  within  the  range  of 
possibility,  materialize  into  visible,  tangible  reali- 
ties, and  that  those  who  could,  and  did  not  help  in 
their  materialization,  would  incur  the  anger  of 
the  great  chief.  Now  it  was  the  habit  of  the  wily 
red  man,  whenever  he  greatly  desired  to  acquire 
a  new  possession,  to  dream  that  the  owner  of  the 
coveted  article  had  presented  it  to  him.  Having 
dwelt  near  the  paleface  for  a  number  of  years,  the 
old  chief  adopted  the  white  man's  mode  of  dress  to 
a  certain  extent.  Needing,  or  coveting,  a  new  coat, 
he  very  conveniently  dreamed  that  McKnight,  who 
had  kept  a  trading  store  on  Indian  Ridge,  gave 
him  a  bolt  of  bright  cloth  which  appealed  strongly 
to  his  innate  love  of  bright  colors.  Presenting 
himself  at  the  trader's  store,  he  related  his  dream 
to  the  owner  of  the  cloth ;  and  McKnight  not  dar- 
ing to  incur  the  enmity  of  the  Indian  by  refusing 
to  let  him  have  the  coveted  article,  presented  it  to 


150 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

him  forthwith;  but  McKnight,  equally  as  shrewd 
as  the  chief,  soon  did  some  dreaming  on  his  own 
account,  and  in  his  vision  he  saw  himself  the 
owner  of  some  four  hundred  acres  of  land  in 
Indian  Ridge,  the  property  of  John  Durant.  So 
with  due  ceremony  he  approached  the  chief  and 
solemnly  related  his  dream;  and  the  old  Indian, 
realizing  that  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  he  had  met  his 
match — nay,  his  superior  in  cunning — made  over 
to  McKnight  the  land. 

This  plantation  was  afterwards  bought  by  Doc- 
tor Marchant,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Currituck, 
the  friend  and  patron  of  Colonel  Henry  Shaw, 
whose  gallant,  though  unsuccessful  defense  of 
Roanoke  Island  during  the  War  between  the 
States,  brought  honor  and  distinction  to  his  native 
county. 

Currituck  in  the  past  has  played  well  her  part 
in  making  the  history  of  the  Old  North  State,  and 
that  a  bright  and  prosperous  future  awaits  her 
may  easily  be  seen  by  all  who  can  read  the  signs 
of  the  times.  Though  nature  on  the  one  hand  has 
placed  many  obstacles  in  the  way  of  her  progress 
by  barring  her  coast  to  incoming  vessels,  and  by 
surrounding  her  with  barren  shores  and  impene- 
trable marshes,  on  the  other  hand  she  has  been 
abundantly  generous  to  the  ancient  district. 
Where  her  marshes  are  drained,  as  in  the  region 


151 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

around  Moyock,  the  richest  corn  land  in  the  world 
is  found.  Her  vast  forests  supply  the  great  lum- 
ber mills  of  the  Albemarle  region ;  her  sound  and 
reedy  shores  provide  her  children  with  an  abund- 
ance of  fish  and  game,  and  with  the  completion  of 
the  Inland  Waterway,  which  in  Carolina  follows 
the  course  of  the  old  Albemarle  and  Chesapeake 
Canal,  Currituck  will  be  placed  in  closer  touch 
with  the  great  world  from  which  she  has  so  long 
been  in  a  measure  isolated.  Material  prosperity, 
far  in  excess  of  the  homely  comforts  which  her 
people  have  always  enjoyed,  will  inevitably  be  the 
heritage  of  her  children. 


152 


CHAPTER  XV 

EDENTON  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

FROM  the  day  when  the  war  cloud  of  the  Revo- 
lution first  began  to  gather  upon  the  Ameri- 
can horizon,  until  the  storm  was  spent  and 
peace  descended  upon  the  land,  the  little  coast 
town  of  Edenton  played  a  conspicuous  and  heroic 
part  in  the  struggle  which  for  seven  weary  years 
wrought  ruin  and  desolation  throughout  the  thir- 
teen Colonies. 

As  early  as  1765,  when  the  oppressive  rule  of 
England  reached  its  culmination  in  the  iniquitous 
Stamp  Act,  Edenton  joined  with  the  other  Caro- 
lina towns  in  adopting  resolutions  expressing  the 
strong  indignation  of  her  citizens  at  this  act  of 
tyranny  on  the  part  of  George  III  and  his  Parlia- 
ment. In  1773  three  of  her  prominent  citizens, 
Joseph  Hewes,  Samuel  Johnston  and  Edward  Vail, 
were  appointed  on  the  Carolina  Committee  of  Cor- 
respondence which  wrote  to  the  other  colonies  that 
North  Carolina  was  ready  to  join  them  against 
the  King  and  Parliament.  When  England  put  into 
operation  the  famous  Boston  Port  Bill  and  that 
sturdy  little  New  England  City  was  on  the  verge 
of  starvation,  Joseph  Hewes,  a  merchant  of  Eden- 
ton, who  was  later  to  play  a  prominent  part  in 


153 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Revolutionary  events  in  North  Carolina,  joined 
with  John  Harvey,  of  Perquimans,  in  collecting 
supplies  and  provisions  from  the  patriotic  people 
of  Albemarle,  which  they  sent  in  the  sloop  Pene- 
lope to  their  distressed  compatriots  in  far  away 
Boston.  Gratefully  was  the  donation  received  by 
the  inhabitants  of  that  city,  and  a  letter  of  thanks 
from  the  Boston  committee  amply  repaid  the 
donors  for  their  generosity. 

One  of  the  earliest,  and  certainly  one  of  the 
most  interesting  events  in  the  Revolutionary 
annals  of  Edenton,  was  the  far-famed  Edenton 
Tea  Party,  held  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
King,  on  October  25,  1774.  This  famous  gather- 
ing of  the  Edenton  women  was  convened  for  the 
purpose  of  protesting  against  the  tax  on  tea, 
which  England  had  lately  begun  to  extort  from  the 
colonies,  and  also  for  heartily  endorsing  the  work 
of  the  first  people's  Convention,  which,  at  the  call 
of  John  Harvey,  had  met  at  New  Bern  in  August, 
1774. 

Before  the  meeting  adjourned  these  brave  and 
patriotic  women  had  drawn  up  resolutions  firmly 
declaring  their  intention  to  drink  no  more  of  the 
taxed  tea,  and -to  uphold  and  encourage  in  every 
possible  way  the  men  of  the  colony  in  their  strug- 
gle to  gain  all  the  rights  due  them  as  British  sub- 
jects. 


154 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

The  news  of  this  bold  stand  of  the  Edenton 
women  spread  far  and  wide,  and  was  commented 
upon  by  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  both  in  Amer- 
ica and  England.  Arthur  Iredell,  of  London, 
brother  of  James  Iredell,  of  Edenton,  who  mar- 
ried the  sister  of  Samuel  Johnston,  on  hearing  of 
the  event  which  seemed  to  have  caused  consider- 
able stir  in  London,  as  well  as  throughout  the  thir- 
teen Colonies,  wrote  to  his  brother  from  his  home 
in  London  the  following  letter  anent  the  affair: 

"I  see  by  the  papers  the  Edenton  ladies  have  sig- 
nalized themselves  by  their  protest  against  tea- 
drinking.  The  name  of  Johnston  I  see  among 
them.  Are  any  of  my  sister's  relatives  patriotic? 
I  hope  not,  for  we  English  are  afraid  of  the  male 
Congress;  but  if  the  ladies  should  attack  us,  the 
most  fatal  consequences  are  to  be  dreaded.  So 
dextrous  in  the  handling  of  a  dart,  each  wound 
they  give  is  mortal,  while  we,  so  unhappily  formed 
by  nature,  the  more  we  strive  to  conquer  them, 
the  more  we  are  conquered. 

"The  Edenton  ladies,  conscious  of  this  super- 
iority on  their  side  by  former  experiences,  are 
willing  to  crush  us  into  atoms  by  their  omnipo- 
tency.  The  only  security  on  our  side,  to  prevent 
impending  ruin  is  the  probability  that  there  are 
few  places  in  America  which  possess  so  much 
female  artillery  as  Edenton.  Pray  let  me  know 


155 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

all  the  particulars  when  you  favor  us  with  a 
letter." 

The  old  house  under  whose  roof  this  historic 
Tea  Party  was  held  has  only  of  recent  years  been 
destroyed.  Age  and  decay  undermined  its  walls, 
and  it  was  found  necessary  to  tear  it  down,  but  a 
handsome  bronze  tea-pot  on  an  iron  pedestal  now 
marks  the  site  of  the  ancient  building ;  and  within 
the  halls  of  the  State  Capitol  the  Daughters  of 
the  Revolution  have  placed  a  bronze  tablet  in  com- 
memoration of  this  spirited  act  of  the  women  of 
Edenton. 

When  John  Harvey,  of  Perquimans,  "The 
Father  of  the  Revolution"  in  North  Carolina  died, 
his  mantle  fell  upon  Samuel  Johnston,  of  Eden- 
ton,  whose  residence  at  "Hayes"  now  became  the 
headquarters  of  the  Whig  party  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  his  office  the  rendezvous  of  the  leaders 
of  the  patriots  in  the  State,  among  whom  Hewes, 
Iredell  and  Johnston,  all  of  Edenton,  stood  fore- 
most. So  active  were  these  three  men  in  arous- 
ing and  spreading  the  spirit  of  patriotism  among 
their  fellow-countrymen  that  McCree,  in  his  "Ire- 
dell  Letters,"  declares  that  "Much  of  the  triumph 
at  Moore's  Creek  must  be  ascribed  to  those  three 
men,  who  at  one  time  held  frequent  consultations 
in  Johnston's  office." 

By  the   close   of   1774,   and   the  beginning  of 


156 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

1775,  the  flames  of  the  Revolution,  which  had 
been  slowly  kindling,  now  burst  into  open  confla- 
gration, and  Edenton  began  to  experience  some- 
thing of  the  consequences  of  war. 

Her  militia  had  for  some  time  been  drilling,  in 
preparation  for  the  inevitable  struggle;  and  Mrs. 
Iredell,  in  a  letter  to  her  husband,  written  in  the 
spring  of  1775,  thus  expresses  the  general  anxiety 
and  the  apprehensive  state  of  mind  of  the  Eden- 
ton  people:  "The  drum  which  is  now  beating 
while  our  soldiers  exercise,  drives  every  cheerful 
thought  from  my  mind,  and  leaves  it  oppressed 
with  melancholy  reflections  on  the  horrors  of 
war." 

In  November  of  that  year  emissaries  sent  by 
Lord  Dunmore,  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  were 
discovered  near  the  town,  endeavoring  to  incite 
the  slaves  of  that  section  to  rise  against  their  mas- 
ters, murder  them,  and  join  the  Tory  army.  But 
General  Robert  Howe,  at  the  head  of  a  detachment 
from  his  regiment,  quickly  drove  these  agents 
away,  and  thwarted  the  dastardly  attempt;  then 
marching  on  with  six  hundred  North  Carolina 
militia,  into  Virginia,  the  gallant  General  reached 
Norfolk  two  days  after  the  victory  of  the  patriots 
at  Great  Bridge,  helped  to  expel  Dunmore  from 
Norfolk,  and  to  take  possession  of  the  city  for  the 
Americans. 


157 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

In  April,  1776,  the  Halifax  Convention  author- 
ized the  delegates  from  North  Carolina  to  the 
Continental  Congress  of  that  year,  "to  concur  with 
the  delegates  of  the  other  Colonies  in  declaring 
independence,"  and  upon  Joseph  Hewes,  of  Eden- 
ton,  fell  the  honor  of  presenting  the  Halifax  Reso- 
lution of  1776  to  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia. 
To  the  instructions  of  the  State  he  represented, 
Hewes  added  his  own  urgent  plea  for  immediate 
action,  and  cast  his  State's  vote  squarely  against 
postponing  the  declaration  of  independence.  When 
the  Continental  Congress  finally  agreed  to  secede 
from  the  English  Government,  Hewes,  with  John 
Penn  and  William  Hooper,  of  North  Carolina, 
affixed  his  name  to  that  famous  document  in  which 
the  thirteen  Colonies  foreswore  their  allegiance  to 
King  George. 

Some  two  months  after  the  Halifax  Convention, 
and  two  weeks  before  the  Continental  Congress 
had  formally  declared  independence,  the  vestry 
of  Old  St.  Paul's  Church  in  Edenton  met  in  solemn 
conclave,  and  impelled  by  the  wave  of  intense 
patriotism  now  sweeping  over  the  land,  drew  up 
the  so-called  "Declaration  of  Independence  of  St. 
Paul's  Parish,"  the  context  of  which  is  as  follows : 

"We,  the  Subscribers,  professing  our  Allegiance 
to  the  King,  and  acknowledging  the  Constitutional 
executive  power  of  Government,  do  solemnly  pro- 


158 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

fess,  testify  and  declare,  that  we  do  absolutely 
believe  that  neither  the  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain  nor  any  member  nor  any  Constituent 
Branch  thereof,  have  a  right  to  impose  taxes  upon 
these  Colonies  or  to  regulate  the  internal  policy 
thereof ;  and  that  all  attempts  by  fraud  or  force  to 
establish  and  exercise  such  claims  and  powers  are 
violation  of  the  peace  and  security  of  the  people, 
and  ought  to  be  resisted  to  the  utmost,  and  the 
people  of  this  Province  singly  and  collectively  are 
bound  by  the  acts  and  resolutions  of  the  Conti- 
nental and  Provincial  Congresses,  because  in  both 
they  are  freely  represented  by  persons  chosen 
by  themselves,  and  we  do  solemnly  and  sincerely 
promise  and  engage  under  the  sanction  of  virtue, 
honor,  and  the  Sacred  love  of  liberty  and  our 
country  to  maintain  and  support  all  and  every 
acts,  resolutions  and  regulations  of  the  said  Con- 
tinental and  Provincial  Congresses  to  the  utmost 
of  our  power  and  ability.  In  testimony  whereof 
we  have  set  our  hands  this  19th  day  of  June, 
1776." 

During  the  winter  of  1777  and  1778  nine  bat- 
talions of  soldiers  from  North  Carolina  were  shar- 
ing with  their  comrades  from  the  other  colonies 
the  hardships  of  those  terrible  months  at  Valley 
Forge.  Half  naked  and  starving,  the  soldiers 
would  doubtless  have  given  up  the  struggle  to  live 


159 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

through  the  awful  winter,  had  not  Governor  Cas- 
well,  of  North  Carolina,  energetically  set  about 
securing  the  needed  supplies  for  the  army.  Joseph 
Hewes,  responding  generously  to  the  call  for  help, 
sent  his  own  ships  to  the  West  Indies  to  obtain 
necessaries  for  the  army,  had  them  brought  to 
Edenton,  and  from  there  sent  by  wagon  to  Valley 
Forge. 

After  the  American  victory  at  Saratoga,  France, 
who  had  been  until  then  hesitating  as  to  what 
course  she  should  pursue  in  regard  to  helping  the 
Americans  against  the  ancient  foe  of  the  French, 
now  yielded  at  last  to  Franklin's  persuasions,  and 
promised  to  send  a  large  fleet  and  four  thousand 
troops  to  aid  the  Colonies. 

A  party  of  French  gentlemen,  sympathizing 
with  the  Americans,  and  anxious  to  aid  in  the 
cause,  came  over  to  the  States  in  advance  of  the 
army  sent  by  the  government,  and  landing  in 
Edenton,  were  so  agreeably  impressed  with  the 
social  life  of  the  hospitable  town,  that  they  spent 
several  weeks  in  the  little  metropolis.  Three  of 
these  foreigners,  Messieurs  Pinchieu,  Noirmont  de 
la  Neuville,  and  La  Tours,  seem  to  have  made 
many  friends  in  the  town,  and  to  have  been  the 
recipients  of  much  hospitality  on  the  part  of  the 
gentlefolk  of  Edenton. 

Judge  Iredell,  who  spoke  French  fluently,  made 


160 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

a  strong  impression  upon  the  strangers;  and  M. 
Pinchieu  became  one  of  his  warm  friends.  The 
visit  of  the  French  officers  to  Edenton  was  made 
the  occasion  of  many  social  functions,  and  before 
the  foreigners  departed  from  the  town,  they  gave 
a  grand  ball  to  the  Edenton  ladies,  who  had 
made  their  stay  so  pleasant.  The  modest  colonial 
maidens  of  old  Edenton,  though  dazzled  and 
charmed  by  the  airs  and  graces  of  the  gay  and  de- 
bonair strangers,  at  times  found  the  manners  of 
their  foreign  guests  a  little  too  free  for  their 
comfort.  Miss  Nellie  Blair,  in  a  letter  to  her 
uncle,  Judge  Iredell,  declares  most  emphatically 
her  displeasure  at  the  decidedly  French  behavior 
of  one  of  her  too  attentive  foreign  admirers. 

On  leaving  Edenton,  the  Frenchmen  proceeded 
to  New  Bern,  where  they  tendered  their  swords 
to  the  General  Assembly,  and  offered  their  ser- 
vices in  the  American  cause;  but  for  reasons  not 
stated  their  offer  was  declined. 

The  many  acts  of  open  rebellion  on  the  part  of 
prominent  citizens  of  Edenton  had  by  this  time 
made  the  town  a  marked  spot  in  the  eyes  of  the 
enemy ;  and  the  fact  that  she  was  the  most  import- 
ant port  in  the  Albemarle  region,  and  that  her 
destruction  would  be  a  heavy  blow  to  the  entire 
State,  also  singled  her  out  as  an  important  point 
of  attack. 


161 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

So  in  1779,  when  Sir  George  Collier  entered 
Hampton  Roads,  gutted  Norfolk,  took  possession 
of  Portsmouth,  and  burned  Suffolk,  the  citizens 
of  Edenton  were  thoroughly  alarmed.  The  Dismal 
Swamp  was  on  fire,  and  the  crackling  of  the  burn- 
ing reed  resembling  the  reports  of  musket  shot, 
caused  many  to  think  that  a  battle  was  going  on 
near  the  town.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  began  to 
pack  up  their  household  goods,  ready  to  leave 
when  the  British  should  enter  the  town. 

But  for  some  unknown  reason  the  enemy, 
though  so  near,  failed  to  descend  upon  the  town ; 
and  as  days  and  weeks  passed  by,  the  cloud  of  ap- 
prehension began  to  disperse,  and  life  in  the  vil- 
lage to  resume  its  normal  course. 

Events,  however,  were  to  prove  that  the  danger 
of  invasion  was  averted  for  a  time  only.  In  the 
fall  of  1780,  just  after  the  disastrous  defeat  of 
the  Americans  at  Camden,  and  prior  to  Cornwal- 
lis'  march  into  North  Carolina,  General  Leslie, 
of  the  British  army,  was  sent  from  New  York  to 
Virginia  to  keep  the  Americans  in  southeastern 
Virginia  and  Albemarle  from  joining  Greene's 
army  in  the  effort  to  repel  the  invasion  of  Corn- 
wallis. 

Edenton  was  again  in  danger.  The  enemy,  two 
thousand  strong,  were  camped  at  Portsmouth,  and 
one  thousand  were  reported  to  have  set  out  from 


162 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Virginia  on  their  way  to  attack  the  town.  To 
add  to  the  terror  of  the  inhabitants,  two  British 
galleys,  with  sixty  men  each,  had  slipped  through 
Roanoke  Inlet,  and  were  making  for  the  little 
port.  A  letter  from  Mrs.  Blair  to  James  Iredell, 
written  during  those  anxious  days,  gives  a  graphic 
description  of  conditions  in  Edenton  at  this  junc- 
ture. "Vessels  cannot  get  in,"  she  writes;  "two 
row  galleys  are  between  us  and  the  bar,  and  are 
daily  expected  in  Edenton.  If  they  come,  I  do  not 
know  what  we  shall  do.  We  are  unable  to  run 
away,  and  I  have  hardly  a  negro  well  enough  to 
dress  us  a  little  of  anything  to  eat.  We  hear  that 
there  is  an  English  fleet  in  Virginia,  landing  men 
at  Kempe's." 

Governor  Nash,  realizing  that  the  town  was  in 
imminent  danger,  now  ordered  General  Benbury, 
of  Edenton,  to  join  General  Isaac  Gregory  at 
Great  Swamp,  near  the  Virginia  border,  and  aid 
him  in  preventing  General  Leslie  from  entering 
Albemarle.  At  this  post  a  battle  was  fought  be- 
tween Leslie's  men  and  the  militia  under  Ben- 
bury  and  Gregory,  in  which  the  latter  were  vic- 
torious. A  little  later  Gregory  wrote  Governor 
Nash  that  Leslie's  army  had  withdrawn  from  Vir- 
ginia, but  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  ascertain 
the  destination  of  the  enemy.  However,  it  soon 
became  knowrn  that  Leslie  was  hurrying  to  Cam- 


163 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

den,  South  Carolina,  to  join  Cornwallis  in  his 
attempt  to  sweep  through  North  Carolina  and 
conquer  that  State,  as  he  had  conquered  her  sister 
State  on  the  south. 

With  Leslie's  army  removed  from  the  vicinity, 
Edenton  remained  for  a  few  months  free  from  the 
fear  of  invasion ;  but  not  for  long  did  her  citizens 
enjoy  a  respite  from  anxiety,  for  in  January, 
1781,  the  traitor,  Benedict  Arnold,  was  sent  by 
the  British  to  occupy  the  posts  in  Virginia  lately 
deserted  by  Leslie.  From  Portsmouth  Arnold 
wrote  to  General  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  K.  C.  B., 
that  he  was  planning  to  send  boats  carrying  five 
hundred  men  through  Currituck  Inlet,  sweep  the 
sound  as  high  as  Edenton,  destroy  that  town  and 
its  shipping,  and  then  proceed  to  New  Bern,  which 
he  hoped  to  serve  in  like  manner.  Then  he  ex- 
pected to  post  armed  vessels  outside  Currituck 
Inlet,  distress  the  people  of  the  coast  country,  and 
thus  keep  the  people  of  eastern  Carolina  so  busy 
defending  their  own  homes  that  they  would  not 
be  able  to  send  men  to  interfere  with  the  plans  of 
Cornwallis. 

Arnold  asked  Clinton  for  100  ship  carpenters 
to  build  the  vessels  necessary  for  the  execution 
of  his  plans,  but  the  traitor  was  not  able  to  carry 
out  his  designs  against  the  eastern  towns,  for  on 
arriving  in  Virginia  he  found  himself  so  hated 


164 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

and  shunned  by  the  British  officers  over  whom  he 
was  placed  that  he  soon  resigned  his  command  of 
the  Virginia  posts  to  General  Phillips,  of  the 
British  army,  and  instead  of  proceeding  against 
Edenton,  he  undertook  another  expedition  up  the 
James  River. 

General  Phillips,  who  now  assumed  command 
of  the  British  in  south-eastern  Virginia,  immed- 
iately began  to  plan  to  join  Cornwallis,  who  in 
the  meantime  had  won  the  doubtful  victory  of 
Guilford  Courthouse  and  had  retreated  to  Wil- 
mington. 

The  situation  in  Edenton  was  now  alarming  in 
the  extreme.  Leslie  had  3,500  men  in  Virginia, 
2,500  of  whom,  General  Gregory  wrote  Iredell, 
had  embarked  at  Kempe's  Landing,  supposedly 
for  Edenton.  Rumor  had  it  that  there  were  seven 
British  boats  at  North  Landing,  and  some  at 
Knott's  Island.  Cornwallis'  Army  was  marching 
northward  from  Wilmington,  and  reports  from 
nearby  counties  that  lay  in  his  path,  told  of  the 
atrocious  crimes  committed  by  his  men  against 
women  and  children,  of  devastated  fields  and 
homes  burned  and  ruined.  Hundreds  of  negroes 
were  foraging  for  the  British  army,  and  the  Tories 
everywhere  were  wreaking  vengeance  upon  their 
Whig  neighbors. 

The  long  dreaded  day  at  last  arrived.    Edenton 


165 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

was  raided,  and  the  vessels  in  her  harbor  burned 
and  carried  off.  Eden  House,  some  ten  miles 
from  the  town,  the  home  of  Robert  Smith,  a 
prominent  merchant  of  Edenton,  was  plundered, 
and  valuable  papers  destroyed.  Many  of  the 
beautiful  homes  of  the  planters  in  the  neighbor- 
hood were  destroyed,  and  a  schooner  belonging  to 
Robert  Smith,  and  one,  the  property  of  a  Mr. 
Littlejohn,  were  captured  by  the  enemy  and  car- 
ried off  down  the  sound. 

The  danger  was  so  real  that  many  families  fled 
from  the  town  and  sought  refuge  in  Windsor,  and 
the  homes  of  that  hospitable  little  village  were 
crowded  with  women  and  children.  But  in  spite 
of  the  discomfort  that  host  and  guest  alike  must 
have  suffered  from  the  overflow  of  visitors,  the 
letters  of  the  refugees  to  their  husbands  and 
fathers  in  Edenton  speak  in  warm  praise  of  the 
cheerfulness  and  good  humor  that  prevailed  in  the 
little  town  during  those  trying  and  anxious  days, 
and  of  the  merry  social  gatherings  held  in  honor 
of  the  guests. 

Though  panic-stricken  at  first  when  confronted 
by  the  long  apprehended  danger,  the  citizens  soon 
rallied  and  bravely  resisted  the  foe.  Charles 
Johnson,  writing  to  James  Iredell,  says :  "The 
inhabitants  in  general  and  the  sailors,  have  and  do 
turn  out  unanimously.  I  never  saw  nor  could  I 


166 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

hope  to  see  so  much  public  spirit,  personal  courage 
and  intrepid  resolution."  Robert  Smith's  schooner 
was  retaken  from  the  enemy,  and  later  the  Row 
Galley  that  had  invaded  Edenton  and  captured 
the  schooners  was  taken,  and  her  commander, 
Captain  Quinn,  lodged  in  Edenton  jail. 

In  the  meantime  the  refugees  at  Windsor  were 
beginning  to  doubt  their  wisdom  in  leaving  their 
homes  for  the  Bertie  town.  Many  of  them  were 
afraid  that  they  had  only  jumped  from  the  frying- 
pan  into  the  fire.  Cornwallis  was  only  thirty 
miles  away,  in  Halifax,  and  the  Windsor  people 
were  in  daily  terror  that  foraging  parties  from  his 
army  would  descend  upon  their  homes.  To  add 
to  the  danger  of  their  situation,  the  hated  and 
dreaded  Arnold,  whose  expedition  up  the  James 
had  been  attended  by  the  perpetration  of  many 
dastardly  cruelties,  was  marching  south  to  join 
Cornwallis  in  Carolina.  Six  hundred  negroes,  sent 
by  Cornwallis,  were  near  Edenton,  and  other 
bands  of  foragers,  two  thousand  in  all,  were  pil- 
laging and  plundering  in  the  wake  of  the  British 
army. 

Fortunately  for  Edenton  and  the  adjacent 
towns,  Anthony  Wayne  was  stationed  at  Roanoke 
with  his  troops.  Hearing  of  the  ravages  com- 
mitted by  Cornwallis'  men,  he  marched  in  pursuit 
of  the  enemy,  who  now  left  North  Carolina,  en- 


167 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

tered  Virginia,  burned  South  Quays,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded on  their  way  to  Yorktown. 

In  June,  1781,  Samuel  Johnston,  of  Edenton, 
was  elected  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress, 
the  first  that  had  assembled  since  the  adoption  of 
the  Articles  of  Confederation.  His  high  ability 
and  acknowledged  statesmanship  won  for  him  in 
that  body  the  distinguished  honor  of  being  elected 
to  the  office  of  President  of  Congress.  But  the 
critical  situation  in  Edenton,  and  his  anxiety  con- 
cerning his  family,  decided  him  to  decline  the 
office  and  return  home  to  share  the  fortunes  of  his 
townsmen  and  to  render  what  aid  he  could  to  his 
own  people. 

In  August,  1781,  Charles  Johnson  wrote  Gov- 
ernor Burke  that  a  French  fleet  had  appeared  off 
the  Virginia  Capes,  and  had  driven  back  General 
Leslie;  and  General  Gregory,  who  had  been  sta- 
tioned at  Edmund's  Hill  in  Nansemond  County, 
Virginia,  to  hold  Leslie  in  check,  reported  at  the 
same  time  that  the  enemy  had  evacuated  Ports- 
mouth, and  that  it  was  useless  to  keep  his  soldiers 
there  any  longer. 

The  British  army  had  by  this  time  reached 
Yorktown,  where,  on  the  19th  of  October  the 
famous  surrender  took  place,  and  the  long,  weary 
struggle  for  independence  was  over;  but  it  was 
nearly  a  month  later  before  the  joyful  news  of 


168 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Washington's  victory  over  Cornwallis  reached 
Carolina.  On  November  18th  the  British  troops 
in  the  State  embarked  from  Wilmington,  and 
North  Carolina  was  troubled  by  the  red-coats  no 
more. 

But  though  the  surrender  at  Yorktown  had  con- 
vinced the  British  that  she  had  lost  her  hold  upon 
the  American  Colonies,  it  was  not  until  Septem- 
ber, 1782,  that  the  King  acknowledged  the  inde- 
pendence of  his  former  American  subjects;  and 
still  another  year  passed  before  the  Treaty  of 
Paris  was  signed,  formally  acknowledging  the 
United  States  a  separate  and  independent  power. 

During  these  two  years  North  Carolina  was 
torn  and  harrassed  by  bands  of  Tories;  and  in 
South  Carolina  the  armies  of  Greene  and  Leslie 
were  still  engaged  in  fierce  skirmishes.  Leslie 
was  at  last  hemmed  in  at  Charleston  by  Greene's 
troops,  and  both  his  men  and  Greene's  soldiers 
were  in  great  distress  for  want  of  food  and 
clothing. 

In  the  summer  of  1782  Greene  warned  the  peo- 
ple of  North  Carolina  that  the  British  in  Charles- 
ton were  preparing  to  send  four  vessels  to  raid 
Edenton,  New  Bern  and  Wilmington;  and  once 
more  the  inhabitants  of  these  towns  were  plunged 
into  a  state  of  alarm. 

Governor  Burke  immediately  ordered  General 


169 


IN  ANCIENT  ALBEMARLE 

Gregory  to  have  500  men  ready  to  march  at  a 
moment's  notice  to  Edenton  to  repel  the  expected 
invasion,  and  also  ordered  him  to  ask  the  mer- 
chants of  Edenton  how  many  vessels  they  thought 
necessary  to  protect  the  town.  The  Governor  fur- 
thermore gave  Gregory  instructions  to  purchase 
cannon  and  to  draft  men  to  man  the  boats,  guar- 
anteeing, himself,  full  pay  for  men  and  supplies. 

But  the  fleet  of  which  Greene  had  written  did 
not  arrive,  though  during  the  summer  of  1782, 
Tory  galleys  appeared  in  the  bay  and  kept  the 
town  in  constant  terror  of  another  raid.  The  fall 
passed  without  bringing  the  expected  invasion, 
and  finally  the  joyful  news  came  that  on  December 
14th  the  British  had  evacuated  Charleston,  and 
that  their  fleet  had  sailed  for  the  North. 

With  the  departure  of  the  British  fleet  and 
army  from  the  South,  all  fear  of  further  invasion 
was  over,  and  the  little  town  of  Edenton  settled 
down  to  long  years  of  peace  and  happiness. 


FINIS 


170 


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